hi it's Nell I'm surrounded by
poinsettias which you'll see more of and
I'm going to give you six care tips on
how to keep your poinsettias alive and
looking good through the holiday season
I'm up at Santa Ynez gardens in the
Santa Ynez Valley if you saw the movie
sideways you know where I am I am in
Santa Barbara wine country stick around
because you're going to see a lot more
beauty not me yes it is the season when
this most popular blooming plant makes
it into our homes and offices and they
can be a little tricky to maintain even
during you know a span of three to four
weeks now this video is not about
keeping them going as a house plant
because they are deciduous so most
people don't keep them after the
holidays because they just plainly who
do not look good so this is a four for
the season only because you want to keep
it looking as good as you can so the
first thing is to buy a healthy plant
it's only November 12th so these aren't
showing their full color and the flowers
aren't fully open yet actually these are
the leaves
they're called wraps and they're in the
colored leaves so there's still a little
bit small and this is the flower here
and by the time you get it it should be
open and you want it to be open but you
don't want it to be gone because that
means the plant is on the way out and
the foliage on these is gorgeous but
they come wrapped in foil usually and
oftentimes the foil is up to here so you
want to just take the foil back and make
sure all this foliage is still on it and
the foliage looks good that's half the
battle buy a good healthy plant and
here's a white variety and you can see
the flowers are just barely starting to
open up here so you want to UM sleeve
them as soon as you get home
and expose them to some air circulation
and treat them well so the next thing is
exposure you want it to be in a nice
bright spot but not in any hot direct
sunlight so you don't want it in a hot
window where conversely you don't want
it in a cold window can be near the
window just as long as it's not too
direct and too hot here in the
greenhouse it's ideal because it's a
sunny day and it's all whitewashed so
the light is just a fuse coming in
beautifully and that is what they like
I'm filming myself so it's a little hard
to drag the tripod around here and get
it set up in the rose but the next thing
up is temperature you're just kind of
touched on the diffusion and this
greenhouse is warm but it's not hot and
at night it's cool and that's what point
said he is like so if you keep your
house a little bit warm on the day warm
not hot and then it's cool at night
that's also going to help it to last
much longer
now the watering can be a little bit
tricky so you have to find a nice
balance between not dry and not stopping
with these plants with the beautiful
colored soft silky leaves are actually
euphorbias which means they're
succulents so but but unlike that
euphorbias
out like the pencil cactus I just did a
video and they blog about that can go
dry these can't go dry so you want the
soil to be slightly moist to the touch
but you also don't want it to be
so as a very general rule maybe once a
week it's gonna depend on the conditions
of your home you're going to have to
figure that out because if it's too dry
the lower leaves will fall off and if
it's too wet the lower leaves will fall
off so just just find a nice even
balance with the watering
so following hot on the heels of the
topic of watering is to remove the foil
or the dirt or the decorative pot when
you water it because what happens is if
you water water water then the water
builds up around the base of the pot and
the plant becomes waterlogged and it'll
it'll rot out so what you want to do is
take that off take another pot and then
give it a good water let the water all
drain out and then put it back in its
pot and saucer or its sleeve oh and as
usual there is a post to go along with
this video we'll still have everything
outlined in it and maybe even more if I
forgot to say something so the last tip
I have for you is to keep it away from
heaters and from cold drafts it doesn't
like either one plainly put a quick
recap for you you want to buy a healthy
plant you want nice bright light but no
direct sunlight warm temperature is cool
at night you want to keep it evenly
moist not too wet and not too dry you
want to remove the foil to water and you
want to keep it out of any hot or cold
drafts poinsettias like other euphorbias
emit a SAP and that SAP was once thought
to be toxic but now it's much less toxic
if toxic at all so you don't have to
worry about that just don't eat them
there are some great fish hooks right
there and place EDIUS you know what you
guys it just makes me happy to be
amongst all these plans
so I have wrapped up this video and now
it's time for me to head into the
beautiful little town of Lowe solely
votes and do some wine tasting a big
thank you to Chris with Santa Ynez
Gardens for letting me film this video
here some of these poinsettias will be
going out in the week or two they'll
actually be going out before
Thanksgiving the rest will go out after
Thanksgiving yeah maybe some of these
will be making their way into your home
I hope you have found this video to be
helpful and that you can keep your
poinsettias healthy happy and looking
good during the holiday season and
please subscribe because I have a lot
more videos coming your way
thanks for all your likes and your
subscribes I really appreciate them and
Happy Holidays a little bit of really
fun happy holidays and as always I thank
you so much for watching bye