We have a Poinsettia plant in our dining room that we acquired either two or 3 Christmasses ago - we can't quite remember but it means we've had it at least 18 months now. Although the red flowers disappeared after the first Christmas we had it, we kept the leafy plant anyway as a house plant. Apart from the occasional water to keep it alive it's had no TLC from us. But lo and behold, this week the leaves are turning their signature red colour!
It's notoriously difficult to get poinsettia leaves to turn from their green to red for a second season. The experts advice that you keep the plant in the dark for 14-16 hours per day, ideally from 5pm to 8am. They need to be brought into the sunlight for 6 hours everyday. The temperature also has to be optimum. It requires these specific conditions for a couple of months before flowering occurs, so it's advised that you should start on 1st October to produce the red flowers in December in time for Christmas.
Why our plant has suddenly decided it would like to flower now remains a mystery!
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