Waiting For My Poinsettia To Die

So, I've been meaning to write about my poinsettia plant.           I would have done it sooner, except I didn't know how to spell "poinsettia". 

Over the holidays, a friend gave me a poinsettia plant as a gift (or, in the parlance of today, she gifted me with a poinsettia).  I placed it on my kitchen table, where it added just the right touch of color and festive cheer to my drab surroundings. 

The poinsettia continued to grace my kitchen table throughout the month of December.  I watered it faithfully, and tended to its dried leaves, doing my best to keep the plant healthy and preserve its bright crimson cheeriness.

By the time New Year's rolled around, the poinsettia was still thriving.  And I was still watering it, although not quite as enthusiastically.  I mean, everyone had already discarded their Christmas trees and holiday wreaths...it was time to move on.  To water or not water?  That was my dilemma.  I felt guilty if I withheld water, but at the same time, I didn't particularly want to nourish the damn thing and prolong its life (and my suffering).

By mid-January, I was practically ignoring the poinsettia.  And feeling terribly guilty about it.  The thing is, the plant was starting to wreak havoc with my whole sense of Feng shui.  What looked so right during the holiday season, no longer looked right at all.  In fact, it looked very, very wrong.  It's not the poor poinsettia's fault.  But face it, no plant is more season-specific...and its season had passed.  Still, I couldn't just let the poor plant die...or could I?

Now it's almost February.  The poinsettia is still on my kitchen table.  A few of its red leaves have turned brown.  Several leaves have shriveled up and fallen off.         I hardly ever bother to water it.  I don't even want to look at it.  Yet it stubbornly refuses to die.

I know, I know...the Internet is full of helpful advice about how to replant a poinsettia.  One site promises that "...with proper care, poinsettias can retain their beauty for weeks...and some varieties will stay attractive for months".

For months??  Do you mean to tell me I may still be looking at this plant on Memorial Day?  That I will be explaining why I have a poinsettia on Labor Day?   (I suppose if it's still alive by Halloween, I can always just say I did my Christmas decorating early).

I've searched the Internet for advice on how to kill a poinsettia, but haven't found anything yet.  Clearly, ignoring a poinsettia for weeks at a time doesn't bother this perky, little plant one bit.  It can withstand even the most hostile environment.

Ok, now I'm feeling even guiltier about my poinsettia.  Guess I'll just have to water it again.

Comments

[Tim Coote]

Don't let plants spoil your life.

You should just throw it directly in the trash on the fifteenth of January with a little ceremony of farewell before moving on to new challenges.

[Marcie Judelson]

Great idea. Maybe I'll combine it with Valentine's Day..."Love and Loss"?
Thanks.

[Tim Coote]

Sounds like a marketer's dream to me.

Poinsettias are kind of romantic yet pointy too. Just the sort of thing to associate with love and disappointment.

I always thought the red/green Christmas thing was sucky and way too literal anyway.

[Marcie Judelson]

Yes! It's about "re-purposing" the Poinsettia.
The Poinsettia Association of America will thank me. No one will give roses for Valentine's anymore (so one dimensional).

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