Welcome back to the show.
Tis the season 4 poinsettias.
This is actually a Christmas decoration that
I took from lucky home to wear as a hat.
But that's the thing.
This time of year,
we're crazy about poinsettias.
Whether they're red or white,
they're everywhere.
And whether you buy it for your
home or gift it to someone else,
you need kind of a plan on how
to take good care of it back.
Always.
By popular demand is master
gardener Cisco Morris.
Hello, my friend.
Hey.
Hello. And I love your head.
I gotta get. Unlike that,
I was gonna say Mary could use this.
No. Well, for you.
OK, well, we might put it in your
hair before this segment is up.
I'm not gonna lie.
Before we get to poinsettias first.
You've been doing a lot
of these last three weeks.
You were in South Africa.
What were you doing there?
I was leading garden tours in South Africa.
Yeah, South Africa and Dubai.
OK, well, let's go to Dubai first.
Let's see what you're. Oh, wow.
That's the world's tallest
building right there.
And I went to the top of that.
These are all the fun people that
were on the tour with me and man
that that is something to go to.
The world's tallest.
Top of the world's tallest.
This is the spice market.
Ohh so funny. I've been to spice
markets all over the world.
This is the best spite
market I've ever been to.
It just smelled divine.
Amazing. I don't. You don't typically
think of Dubai when you think of a lot
of plants to be honest. It's a desert
now. This, this.
Pictures from South Africa.
That's a protea plant.
They have gazillions of
these spectacular plants.
And I went to this famous
garden called Kirstenbosch.
This is, this is back at Dubai.
This is the miracle garden full of plants.
And look at those horses.
That is pretty. Yeah I'd like to
have one of those in my garden.
But what about one of these in your girl man.
Sorry, that guy was looking for a girl.
Ohh.
Was he?
Yeah.
Is that what he told you, the
driver? Toyota Land Cruiser said
that Alfred is looking for a girl.
They get kind of mean.
He drove out of there 100 miles
north and got really close to us.
You know how it is, you little
cranky sometimes. And what is this?
This. When we were on the safari,
we add tea time every afternoon.
Ohh. So they'd stop somewhere
in the middle of the jungle.
We'd get out and have a glass of wine.
It's like very elegant safari.
I mean sign me up for that. Ohh.
That was the best safaris guy.
Now. I went for a walk myself,
but he was eating lunch.
I wasn't getting enough exercise.
This wasn't on the safari,
but I walked away,
up into the hills and there
were twelve of those guys.
That guy was a foot and 1/2 away
from me. He's my buddy. I called
the Bob. OK, Bob, Bobby baboon.
Bobby the baboon looked like he loved you.
He really liked me. But fine, you had.
Ohh I had so much fun.
Ohh so much. So glad.
It looks like the folks you
were with had a blast. Ohh yeah.
And so many incredibly beautiful plants.
And I have to say I remember
learning from frosty the snowman,
the cartoon that poinsettias
are actually there.
We love them as a winter point,
but aren't they a tropical plant?
They are tropical from Mexico.
Ohhh. Yeah, you could see them.
You go down to Mexico to tropical areas.
They're 10 feet tall,
blooming away. Just spectacular.
Now it's not like I'm gonna eat this
plant, but we've always heard there.
Poisonous, is that? True.
That's a big. It's not true.
It's misnomer. It's a misnomer.
Now the only thing if disorder
is some SAP inside these stems.
OK. And I it might burn your
dog's mouth or something.
That's about it. Cats. Cats. Same thing.
No, no, it doesn't kill cats.
The only thing is they they did a study
and a fifty 100 pound kid can eat 50 of
these leaves and only get a come here.
I'm sorry. Was who was the lucky kid?
That. Got to do that. I'm gonna say
that was not sanctioned by the FDA.
No. So a study that was not in the
United States, obviously. Alright.
Is there anything that's important to
look for when you buy a poinsettia?
Yes. And this is really important.
And nobody knows about this.
Everybody thinks these are the flowers.
These are just colored leaves.
They're called bracks. OK.
So the flowers are in there,
they're little in there.
And when you look in there,
you see a little red on one of those.
That one,
that flower is just starting to open.
You wanna get these when the flowers
haven't opened or just starting.
OK, so when once they're yellow in there,
you're getting an older one,
it's not gonna last as
long. OK, as we've been carrying this
little point setting around the set,
we've been losing a couple
of leaves here and there.
Is that a bad sign?
Upset about that? I mean,
did you leave this in the car overnight?
I might have left it in the
car a little too long.
I mean, I'm not calling you out, but
you know, I I haven't guy
that worked for me once.
He had a crush on the office
manager and he bought her the
biggest poinsettia I ever saw.
But he left it in his car,
went shopping all day,
gave it to her the next day
and it looked spectacular.
By 5:00 o'clock in the afternoon,
there was five leaves
left on the points. This cold guy.
That when you buy one of these,
bring it home.
Don't stick up front of the heater.
They heat that or we're a breeze
hits it when you open the door.
That that shortens their life quite
a bit. No breeze.
No, not by a heater or by the heater.
Yep. No, not by, not by the heater.
Yeah. Alright, before we let you go,
I remember he talked about
this a few years ago.
Some people like to try to keep
these alive throughout the year.
And it's basically like having
a baby because what do you
have to do to keep them alive?
Well, I've never put a
baby in the closet, but.
I mean, but you,
you really these starting in late September?
Yeah. It's gonna take about
10 weeks for this to work.
Yeah. Yeah. Every day.
14 hours in total darkness in the closet.
Then you bring it out and stick it
in really bright light for the day.
Then it's got to go back in every night.
If you forget one time,
then you don't get any of the flowers.
You forget once you. Once
you open that door to the closet
and there's a light on, that's it.
No flowers this year.
And you know what I do?
I put a big sign that says hey you dim,
dim, don't open the door because I always do
it because that note is not for Mary.
Let's be clear, it's for him to
himself for marriage. I love it.
Alright, so really quickly as I
as I adorn you with this lovely,
lovely poinsettia, tell me how do you
have to keep it in the paper sleeve?
Cause it's so ugly. I'm glad
you asked that question.
If you're gonna keep this in the I
don't want this to fall off I what
I handsome stud. I can't
believe it. I'll be the I'm the
pride of the gardening world
with this side. Alright, thank you.
Just gotta cut that bottom off that,
OK, cut it off. Alright, ciscos,
tips on taking care of your poinsettias
on our own website and basically
thanks for spending time with us today.
We'll see you next time.
Go have a good day.