Thanksgiving has come and gone, so we’re now officially into the holiday season.  In addition to the usual holiday fare and celebrations, the appearance of holiday plants always makes me smile. This year, things are a bit different.

For the past month or so, I’ve been keeping my eye on the poinsettia I purchased last year. The flowers (actually bracts) were a lovely shade of pink and I enjoyed them for weeks. After the holidays, I tried (not for the first time) to overwinter that plant.  I’ve kept poinsettias in the past but invariably, sometime in February, the leaves yellow then drop, and the plant dies.  Except this time, it was different.

Perhaps it was a new resolve on my part, or that I placed it in a west-facing window in my bedroom where I’d see it every day and be reminded to water it.  Whatever the reason, Patience the Poinsettia not only survived, but she thrived.  She sported spiffy new growth in the spring and throughout the summer months.  In the fall, growth slowed down, but she remained a healthy plant.  And I wondered what would happen as the holiday season approached.

Days passed, daylight hours grew ever shorter, and the outdoor garden was no more. Patience seemed pretty much the same.  And then one day I noticed a change.  Some of her leaves were growing pale.  Needless to say, I was concerned.  She’d survived a year indoors.  It would be so disappointing if she turned from green to sickly yellow and lost her leaves just as poinsettias were beginning to appear in area stores.

But the affected leaves weren’t turning yellow.  The decidedly pale leaves soon began to show a distinctively pink hue.  Could Patience the Poinsettia be on the path to reblooming?  I crossed my fingers and checked daily.

I’d done none of the recommended procedures for forcing a poinsettia to rebloom.  No drastic cutting back.  No covering the plant or placing it in a closet to keep it in the dark.  None of it.  Yet, here she was, bracts changing color in anticipation of blooming.

Sure enough, more leaves began to change color, and tiny buds appeared in the center of the pink-colored bracts.  Patience the Poinsettia was indeed reblooming all on her own.  Sometimes, it’s not only easier but makes more sense to just let nature do its thing.

If you’d like to read more about reblooming poinsettia, check out this article: https://www.uvm.edu/news/extension/perennial-poinsettia titled “The Perennial Poinsettia.”