Count Your Blessings!

With love and passion, everyone can have a nice garden...Elaine Yim

Count Your Blessings!
Count The Garden By The Flowers, Never By The Leaves That Fall.
Count Your Life With Smiles And Not The Tears That Roll.
..... Author unknown.

Knowing me, Knowing you..... Aha.....!

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Thursday, December 2, 2010

Poinsettias, The Christmas Flowers



Every year during the season of Christmas, we can find poinsettias everywhere we go. I really like their vibrant colours of vermillion, green and gold. In our local Malay language, we call them 'bunga krismas' meaning Christmas flowers. In Chinese, it is called "yī pǐn hóng" (一品紅).

What you do call it in your language?

When I see poinsettias at our local nurseries, I can't resist the temptation to buy one to take home. From then on, I will be busy looking after its needs, admiring it everyday, watering it and trying to make it last the whole season and thereafter, hoping that the leaves will turn from red to green very very slowly. Each time a leaf drop off, my heart will miss a beat.

I use it as a decoration for my living room. I have placed my poinsettia near the windowsill, to get some sunlight. I know that poinsettias are native to Mexico, and they are known as 'nochebuena' in Mexican language. I would like to dedicate this post to Fer, from whom I learnt its Mexican name. His post about nochebuena, his favourite plant is here.

Now, if you have some poinsettia tips do let me know! 


During my shopping trips at the nurseries, I also found some garden ornaments that I like. Here's a pair of mandarin ducks and some toadstools. Toadstool or mushrooms? I like 'toadstool', meaning stools for toads, haha!

By the way, those green leaves are not fakes but those of my Calathea makoyana plant.



I also see a lot of poinsettias at the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, a shopping centre. The theme this year is 'Christmas Enchantments'.

The whole Christmas tree above is decorated with red poinsettias.

“Poinsettias, The Christmas Flowers”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on December 2nd, 2010.



A pair of giant baubles sitting on a bed of red poinsettias.


This Crystal Fountain is also surrounded by a sea of poinsettias. You can throw a coin and make a wish. At the same time, the coin will contribute towards charity.



Now, what do you call this - a bowl, a planter box or a torch?


Can real poinsettias survive and bloom in the snow? 
Do you think Santa's reindeers look nice with poinsettia garlands?


These are white poinsettias. Have you seen the real white ones? Have you seen poinsettias in other colours?


"I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver".
..... Maya Angelou


If you remember my post last month about my first Google Adsense money, here's where my money had gone to. This is Hospice Klang, a centre providing Palliative Care and assistance.

Until then, wishing you a great week ahead!

This is my entry for Fertilizer Friday. Tootsie has an urgent message/appeal today. Do visit her here.

This is also my entry for Blooming Friday, the theme this week is "On The Windowsill", thanks to Katarina of Roses & Stuff, her link is here.

Beth of Food As Art blog is having a Poinsettia Party. So what are you waiting for? Do join in the fun, her link is here

35 comments:

  1. Dear Autumn Belle, Poinsettias are so very Christmassy. They have to be lipstick red for me. Although I have a great fondness for white flowers generally, somehow a white Poinsettia does not feel quite right!!

    The arrangements that you show look absolutely amazing!

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  2. Hi Autumn. Wow, what gorgeous and festive decorations at the Pavilion. Now those are some big ornaments. LOL! Your poinsettia is so pretty. I always succumb to buying one every winter too. Since I do not put up a tree anymore the poinsettia brings me some cheerful colors.

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  3. Autumn, you've posted such wonderful Christmas delights today! I love them all and, yes, I have seen white poinsettias, pink, and burgundy. A lot has developed with growers experimenting with new colour combinations. I still prefer the red poinsettia. I am, afterall, traditional in my Christmas decor. Hope you have an awesome day!

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  4. Hi Autumnbelle I loved seeing how you decorate with poinsettias - and outside aswell - that's amazing!

    I'm about to do a big write up on them with lots of tips on looking after them - none of the info out of a book but from my own experience. They are very tempermental over here as houseplants in the UK and need specific care requirements. We have white ones here called "wintersun" and one that has a little yellow tinge and it's called "citronella". I'll be posting their photos soon. My favourite poinsettia is called "Merlot" as it has lovely burgundy bracts.

    Over in Holland they even dye them - I've seen blue ones from there.

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  5. Hi. The arrangement in the black urn is stunning. In addition to some of the colours others mentioned we can find salmon or peach coloured poinsettias in Ontario. I usually buy a couple for the house but I prefer the red ones.

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  6. Thank you for this cheerful holiday post Autumn Belle! Your galathea is just gorgeous - so bright and healthy! I used to have it as a house plant, but it was unhappy in the heated house.

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  7. Funny how a plant from Mexico became the symbol of Christmas... we call it 'Božoćna zvijezda' in Croatian, meaning Christmas star.

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  8. I am such a fan of Poinsettias. I always buy one or two and only RED!

    I like the giant baubles. Fun!

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  9. Great poinsettia photos! One year I got lucky (though I didn't know it at the time). I rushed into a garden center to buy a family member a gift on Christmas Eve. They were minutes from closing and offered to sell me as many designer poinsettias as I wanted for only a dollar a piece! Thrilled, I took home one in every color (around 15 plants for $15). A great deal as I've sometimes seen them sold for more than $15 each!

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  10. Very festive decorations. Poinsettias are blooming everywhere here too. I like the pink and yellow ones which are popular here.

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  11. Autumn Belle, Wow! What a great showing of Christmas spirit here today! The Poinsettias are wonderful. We buy them each year for our entry hall and fireplace hearth. Thanks for sharing these! It brightened my day....

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  12. Wow! The decoration is fantastic! The Christmas is definately in the air!
    You're so generous too!

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  13. They have pointsettias in every color imaginable now in the USA. My husband is allergic to them, so only some fake ones in the house for us!

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  14. They are beautiful. The toadstools too. I like those kind of stuff.

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  15. Dear Autumn Belle, Such stunning Christmas decorations! They really put me in the holiday spirit.

    I love 'bunga krismas' ... Christmas flower is the perfect name for poinsettias. Pamela x

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  16. I love I love I love your all these photos and what a wonderful post.

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  17. It is looking very festive in your part of the world Autumn Belle! Beautiful photos! Wonderful to see all the decorations with poinsettias. Enjoy the holidays.

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  18. They are everywhere here too. Some enterprising nurseries learned how to make them very showy in time for Christmas, poinsettias are photoperiodic so that show of pseudo leaves can be forced. We also have native poinsettias which are small and doesnt have very bright showy leaves, but they change more color during these short days. AB you should see Linda's post of the conservatory, all natural and really awesome. I envy you because you can go out and take photos, i wish doing that but traffic here is scary these days.

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  19. I love the poinsettias! I also saw at MAHA they were used for booth decorations.Your great post and photos of them make me want to go and buy at least one pot and see if they can grow all year round! I prefer the traditional colour of hot red poinsettia than any other colour...

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  20. Following where you lead, I have earned my first 14 cents ;>)Had to work out how to kill off all those grizzly lonely hearts ads!

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  21. Though it is called Bunga Krismas, we used to see many poinsettis during Chinese New Year decoration.

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  22. These displays are absolutely stunning! I love the way poinsettias have been used in the pavilion. Those white ones are beautiful too. Only the red and the yellow ones are common here. I too feel like buying these pretties every time I see them!

    So good of you to give your earnings.

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  23. The Christmas decorations look very cheerful. I do like red Poinsettas - along with Amaryllis they are the main Christmas flower over here.
    Have a good weekend.

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  24. Beautiful Poinsettia! I buy this plant every year for Christmas too! Nice post of how big city is decorating for Christmas.

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  25. Fantastic photos.

    thanks for sharing all .

    Have a nice weekend
    Gunilla

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  26. Wow, I really enjoy your pictures :)
    To se so many Poinsettias together is stunning. Love it!
    Tjingeling

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  27. Two trees have poinsettias on them this year at my home. I did not post it yet but it is similar to a tree you have shown. It is hard to go through Christmas without them.

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  28. Oh my I love blogging learning so much..did not know about poinsettias until today its Xmas flowers ooops. *paiseh*. btw 'a shoulder to lean no' is it on purpose instead of 'lean on?' tQ.

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  29. The Calatheas mahoyana plant is real? phew! Unbelievable..love all the nice pixz. tQ

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  30. I've never seen so many Poinsettias before.

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  31. Autumn Belle, I really like your poinsettia and the poinsettia trees and other festive decorations you photographed. I am having a Poinsettia Link Party at http://foodasart-beth.blogspot.com/2010/12/poinsettia-party.html. Please consider linking this post to my party.
    Blessings, Beth

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  32. Hi, everyone! Thank you very much for the visit and the nice comments. So nice to know that there are so many colours to choose from for poinsettias. I'll be looking forward to seeing you posts about them, especially photos of real poinsettias in colours other than red.

    Rosie, I'm looking forward to your post.

    Beth, I am so excited to hear about your poinsettia party. I'll be joining right away. I really feel like doing another poinsettia post!

    To my Malaysian gardener friends, it is very difficult (almost impossible) to make the poinseittia look this red again after the leaves turn green, even though the plant continue to live on. They need at least 12 hours of complete darkness every day for the leaves to turn from green to red. Anyway, the true flowers are the tiny yellow ones in the center, the red ones are the bracts.

    Bananaz, you are very observant. Actually there's a printing error in the card and these nice people already know about it but they decided not to ask for a reprint but to use the card anyway.

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  33. Oh, your photos are wonderful! Beautiful poinsettias and the arrangements are just stunning. Thanks for sharing.

    Blessings,
    Sandi

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  34. These are such lovely displays of poinsettias! I love the red ones in the huge urn and the white ones. Thanks for letting me see something that I would otherwise never see. Joni

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  35. Hello! thank you very very much for the dedication.
    Your flowers look great! I hope they keep on blooming over the years too.
    Those are very lovely arrangements, is so nice that they have spread so much all around the world.

    In Mexico we have this little legend about the origin of the flower. Well, actually, we have a lot, but here are two that I like.

    One is that, back in the times before Mexico Aztec (mexico native indians) civilization, a great war happened, and the battlefield got covered with blood. So much blood that the plants that grew there suddenly became red tinted.
    So, from there on, every year around that time those same plants and their offspring turn red again to honor the memory of all the courageous warriors that died in that battle, and to remind people to enjoy and keep the times of peace.

    The other one was made up by the catholic church, to replace the old traditions. It is said that back when the baby Jesus was born, one little poor kid was so sad he could not give a proper gift to Jesus, but he still pick some weeds and made a bouquet. That night when he gave it to the baby, the leafs turned beautiful red, and that is why the plant's name is noche buena (good night).

    Also, in mexico the native ones are usually red, white, and the oranges and salmons. But I have seen yellows and jagged ones and shades of bright green and many others. Oh, and here in japan I have seen pinks too.

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