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!
