It’s been a record year for poinsettias

It’s been a record year for poinsettias, the nation’s favourite Christmas flower. Growers in the UK have been cossetting tens of thousands of seedlings ready for the big spike in sales in the festive season.

The showy Mexican natives with their huge brightly-coloured bracts are arriving at Whitegates Nursery here in Northallerton and NORTHALLERTON right now, so make sure you get here as soon as you can for the pick of the crop. Our Yorkshire poinsettias have been grown in conditions so they will be suited to your home.  The short journey for them  to Whitegates mean they are fresh and healthy, unlike the imported ones which you can find elsewhere .

Vivid carmine red is traditional, of course, but just for a change why not try brilliant pink ‘Princettia’ or the creamy white ‘Infinity White’’? You could pick up a contemporary pot for a truly stylish display.

To care for your poinsettias once you get them home, make sure you don’t overwater – once a week is plenty - and put them on a bright windowsill, but out of direct sunlight which will scorch both leaves and bracts. Keep them as warm as you can, day and night, but away from the drying effects of radiators, and they’ll still be flourishing long after Christmas has been and gone.