esrosedotblog

GEEZER PLANTS

I have always regarded people who kept their poinsettias after the holidays as seriously out of whack with the system.

I am not sure what system that would be but it was definitely in the same category of keeping wreaths on your door and lights in your trees too long.

Now, for two successive years, I am keeping the poinsettia plants alive through, well, almost the easter season.

It may be a geezer thing. Puttering.

Today I went out and cut down the repotted poinsettia we got from the kids back east as I should have done last year.

They say that it will now produce new stems and not be "leggy".

Well, the problem with last year's plant, other than its being leggy, was that it didn't survive the heat.

Now we know that poinsettias grow wild out here. They use them to curb highway bank erosion.

But that doesn't account for desert heat and exposure to the ultra-violet.

So this year I will cover the plant for a couple of months during the summer. We have "suncloth" that cuts down the exposure more than 50%.

The plant that I have inside is doing fine. I will keep it going as long as it goes. This is the one from the supermarket.

Last year's supermarket plant did fine and grew a lot of new green growth but never turned red because I didn't put it in the dark.

I can't put the outdoors plant in the dark. Maybe 100% dark cover for awhile.

These are the kind of life problems that would only be pondered by the unemployed and under engaged. I am certainly not employed but I thought I was engaged. Maybe a little more dog walking. The gym. Cook longer gourmet dinners.

In the meantime I will putter with the poinsettias.

Labels: holidays, horticulture, life, retirement