What should I do with my poinsettia after Christmas? I would really like to keep it alive and perhaps have it bloom again for next Christmas.
General basic care is usually sufficient to keep a poinsettia alive and growing. Reblooming is sometimes more difficult but can lead to success if certain conditions are provided.
Poinsettias need six hours of indirect but bright sun daily, temperatures of 65 to 70 degrees, and should be kept away from any cold drafts or heating vents. The stems should be pruned in mid-April to 6-8″, adding fertilizer every two weeks when new growth starts to appear. Tips may be pinched back in summer to encourage a bushier growth pattern. These plants need quite a bit of water, keeping the soil moist, but not allowing water to pool beneath the pot in the saucer or the wrapping. They should also never be allowed to wilt, as this will lead to leaf loss.
You should repot the plant into a slightly larger pot in the summer, using potting soil that drains well and is slightly acidic. If desired, the plant may be transitioned to outside in the summer to a location with light shade. In the fall, the plant needs to be brought inside before cool weather starts. Reblooming involves providing night temperatures of 60-62, day temperatures of 70-75 degrees. The poinsettia is a short-day, long-night plant and should receive no light at all during the dark period (about 14 hours nightly), starting about Oct. 1.
What is the best way to protect some of my more sensitive perennials from winter damage?
There are several ways to provide winter protection for more sensitive perennials and less hardy shrubs, but the most effective is mulching after the ground has frozen a bit. The more hardy perennials, such as iris or peonies, as well as native plants, will probably not need this protection, however even those plants will benefit from some mulch to help hold in moisture, keep soil temperatures even, and control weeds…