Friday, December 26, 2008

Merry Christmas!


Last Christmas my mom got me a beautiful pink poinsettia. Much to the chagrin of Bear, I have taken care of the pointy for an entire year. Bear hates house plants. Pointy has grown quite large and is incredibly healthy so this fall I decided to try to make her change colors again. Pretty much everything I read said it was nearly impossible. They need 12 plus hours of complete darkness every night from October until December. Starting on Columbus Day, this poinsettia has gone under a large box with the seams reinforced with black electrical tape for 12+ hours. I tried to be very consistent, but there were a a few days where it didn't happen. I don't have a social life, but it is still hard to be at your home every 12 hours. She hadn't changed by early December, so I figured it was over. I kept boxing her up out of habit and about 2 weeks ago, I noticed some faint lightening of her newest leaves. I really thought was she was dying, bummer. However, a few days later I noticed the slightest tinge of blush pink on the mottled white leaves. Success! Over the past week the pink has darkened. Now this would never compare to a commercially grown poinsettia, but I am tickled pink!

4 comments:

jb.little said...

awww! that's good news! i feel a bit attached to her success, since i did get to see the big box in which she has been living. a very nice Christmas surprise, indeed!

Mandi said...

tickled pink, literally!

Unknown said...

it's good to know what you do with your time. other than cooking and talking to me, your mom, and your sisters. and dining out with lena. and going to work. ok, i guess you do things.

Vanilla Bean Counter said...

You know Mandi, I debated adding the literally. Thanks for helping out any of our slow readers.