12/12/12

Today is 12/12/12!

For that reason alone,

I knew I had to blog today!

When I saw

it was Poinsettia Day,

I figured there must be

some strange reason

(other than Christmas)

 for this flower to get a day.

Sure, it’s a lovely plant…

and, Very Christmasy!

But, is there anything else?

So, off to google I went.

My search instantly landed me

 on the Poinsettia Day webpage.

(I know I’m on to something

special if it has its own webpage!)

I learned that today

 is the anniversary

of the death of botanist,

Joel Roberts Poinsett. 

He was also a physician

and a minister to Mexico.

Working in Mexico,

he saw the poinsettia plant

 and loved it enough,

he took clippings

and sent them to his home

 in Southern California.

It was 1828. 

Paul Ecke discovered a way

 to cause the seedlings

to branch.

(I’m not absolutely sure

what this means,

but it’s significant… because…)

 in 2002, the

House of Representatives

 created Poinsettia Day,

to honour Paul Ecke.

(That gives the day

a bit more serious-ness!) 

Paul Ecke the third

still runs their

poinsettia farm today!

Have a guess how much money

 poinsettias make for the

American economy each year…

Go on, have a guess.

How much did you say?

Want me to let you know?

(I will anyway!)

Each year, poinsettias contribute

 $250,000,000

to the economy!

That’s a lot of flowers!

 

Hearing that, it probably

 comes as no surprise

that these are the most popular

potted plant sold

in the US and Canada.

In Mexico, the poinsettia

has been used as a

Christmas plant

since the 1600s!     

 Photo