No doubt you've heard the Christmas music now playing at your favorite (or least-favorite) retailers. While nothing makes me want to leave a store like hearing Mannheim Steamroller's "Deck the Halls" it may impact you differently. Perhaps music induces a little bit of Christmas Spirit in most shoppers, why else would they play it? It's certainly not for my sake.

When a Christmas shopping urge suddenly hits, you may end up adopting a poinsettia. Fortunately they are a lot easier to take care of than a puppy. Actually it's worth mentioning that they are NOT puppies. You are not obligated to care for them for years. Your main goal is to keep it alive through Christmas. After that, the dumpster makes a good home.

To keep a poinsettia alive through December 26 requires only two things: don't let it freeze and keep it well-watered.

The most common problem with poinsettias at home is letting them get too dry. When that happens, the leaves burn and fall off. This leaves you with a few naked stems adorned with a some sad, little bracts. Something like a potted plant version of Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree. It will not grow new leaves to fill in the bald area by Christmas Eve.

It's very important to check your plants every day for water. The best way I've found to do this is to pick them up. If they are lightweight, they need water. Fingers don't tend to work well as a gauge in this case. Note that I'm not saying to water them every day, just to check them. Nearly as bad as being too dry is allowing them to sit in a continual pool of water. When the root zone is constantly saturated, they tend to get diseases. This will conveniently kill them off right before all your fussy family comes to visit.

I usually follow this routine:

1. Pick up the pot. If it's light, I water it thoroughly.
2. I come back in about 20 or 30 minutes and check it. If there is still water standing in the sleeve and the soil is wet, I drain out the excess from the sleeve. You don't need to fertilize them.
3. Repeat daily.

That's it.

After the holidays, I throw the plant out. Poinsettias make fine, green house plants but realistically, you won't get it to turn color for next year's holiday season, and it will be tall and leggy. Commercial growers use plant growth regulators and careful adjustment of temperature to control the height. They (and you) can initiate flowering by regulating day length, but it is hard to find a dark spot in the house. Plus it's a real pain to move the plant in and out your closet every single day at 4:30.  Just toss the plant out and buy a new one each year. A nurseryman will be grateful for the business, and that will cancel out any bad karma from throwing out the plant. 

If the thought of tossing out a perfectly good plant still disturbs you, send it home with a visiting guest. You'll remain guilt-free and maybe smooth out some family discord in the process.