News
Poinsettia Open House Expected to Draw Hundreds
GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Plant lovers, holiday shoppers and the just-plain-curious are invited to the 2007 University of Florida/IFAS Poinsettia Open House. The annual event is being held Thursday, Dec. 6, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free.
“Poinsettias are both beautiful and festive, and they make great gifts,” said environmental horticulture professor James Barrett, the faculty member in charge of the poinsettia variety trials.
For the trials, UF/IFAS scientists grow new varieties developed by plant breeders. They analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each. This year the open house will feature over 100 varieties of the popular holiday plant.
“We have an incredible variety of poinsettias,” Barrett said. “We have many traditional red varieties, but we also feature orange, pink, white and even purple ones.”
There will also be poinsettias with widely varied shapes of bract, the showy part of the plant that many people think of as the flower.
Some of the poinsettias on display will be for sale. These plants have actually been grown by the environmental horticulture undergraduate and graduate student clubs, Barrett said. The money the students raise from selling poinsettias—and other holiday plants—at the open house benefits club activities, including a yearly international educational horticulture tour, internships and travel to competitions.
The open house takes place at the UF/IFAS environmental horticulture department greenhouses, just off Hull Road on the west side of the UF campus.
Visit http://hort.ifas.ufl.edu/publicday2007.pdf for a map.
Written by:
Sarah Graddy
Center for Landscape Conservation and Ecology (352) 392-1831 x244
Source:
Dr. James Barrett
Professor of Environmental Horticulture
