Tis the season for your holiday poinsettia

Roger Boddaert

Special to the Village News

This is the holiday season to be grateful for so many things, but when the flowering poinsettia flower enters our homes, it becomes a beacon of colorful Christmas festivity and charm.

This flowering plant originated in Southern Mexico and is in the euphorbia family (euphorbia pulcherrima), and the colorful bracts are the modified leaves, not the flowers.

In 1836, Joel Roberts Poinsett was the United States ambassador to Mexico and discovered this beautiful flowering plant out in the wilds.

He took many cuttings from these plants and sent them back to...