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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL Do’s and Don’ts for keeping your poinsettia beautiful It is time for poinsettias! And time for my annual article on poinsettia care. One of the most delight ful Christmas decorations is the poinsettia. Few plants are as snowy and pleasing to the eye as a bright, well-grown poinsettia. I thought it would be help ful if I shared Tim Lewis Garden Columnist with you some of the aspects of caring for your plant and, just for fun, I have listed some poinsettia trivia that you might find inter esting. First, here are some dos and don’ts of poinsettia care: DO place your plant where it can receive indirect sunlight for ! ■ l||p ' W 1 mm M : ‘WK"" ; ' m \ w stL niff- J R - - r i: i .«1| |sy H jS If ' Jtf , ‘ ■if v :' vk. |H You might have the Redneck Family of the Year if... You’ve all heard redneck jokes. You know the ones that start with, “You might be a red neck if”. Well, I’ve always thought they were ?u i t e un n y HBbe .■» Jng Angela Lineberger Me and the Boys until we got one of those daily calendars that have a redneck joke for every day of the year. This year I have found that a lot of those jokes apply to my family. I’m sure you’re sarcastically think ing, “What a surprise!” Well, at least six hours a day (the brighter the better). DO provide room temperatures of between 65 and 70 degrees F, if possible. Poinsettias will last longer if kept on the cool side ana the color of the bracts will be enhanced as well. DO water your plant when (and only when) its soil feels dry to the touch. DON’T place plants near cold drafts, heater vents, or fireplac es. DON’T expose plants to outside temperatures below 50 degrees. Poinsettias like it warm! DON’T over water your plant or allow it to sit in standing water. Always allow the excess water to drain completely through the bottom of the pot. DON’T fertilize your plant when it is in bloom. Wait until after the blooming season. The Rainbow Connection The Rainbow House team held ther annual recognition dinner on Monday, honoring volun teeers and staff. Director Kemberlie Sanderson and Board Chairman Priscilla Kennedy pre sented the program. Rainbow House serves abused and neglected children. Special honors went to exiting board members, new members, volunteers and staff memers Tian Foss,Linita Berryman and Barbara Jernigan. Shown above, from left, are Stephanie Whitson, Vice- Chairman; Gary Gerard, Treasurer; Priscilla Kennedy and Kemberlie Sanderson. At left is Linita Berryman yeah, I always thought that we were a little redneck, but now I know we could be the poster children for the red neck joke book. One of the jokes that really applies to me is “You might be a redneck if you like to go to Dollar General because you don’t have to dress up like you do to go to Wal-Mart”. My oldest son Tully tells me that I look like a hobo when I go to Dollar General. I explain to him that I don’t have to dress nicely to go to Dollar General because I don’t see that many people there because it is small. I will then tell him that whe n I go to Wal-Mart I have to dress better because it is larger and I always see I AMmELUBPi BIRTHS ' Bt Now for some facts about the poinsettia. •The Latin name for the poinsettia is Euphorbia pulcherrima. •Poinsettias are native to Mexico. •The poinsettia was brought to America in someone I know. I never thought that was the red neck way of thinking but now I have learned that it is. Another redneck joke that applies to us is “You might be a redneck if you take a load to the dump and bring back more than you origi nally took”. My husband and the boys took some recliners that tne boys had literally destroyed to the dump a few weeks ago. First of all, he loaded the recliners on a trailer that he pulled with the truck and then he let the boys ride in the recliners down the driveway until he got to the public road. They sat in the recliners that were loaded on the trailer screaming and ‘Day to day the* county way Think roosters aren’t friendly? Think again. Estelle and Big Red Have you ever had a rooster sit in your lap hoping for a little motherly atttention? Estelle Hunt has, and since she recently moved into a personal care home, she’s hoping that her friend, Big Red, will be getting some personal care, too. He wasn’t even HER rooster. He just “took a liking’’ to her, joining her on the bench in her garden and climbing into her lap to be stroked on his feathery back while munch ing on chicken food. The way Hunt’s daughter, Mabel Collins tells it, the rooster wound up in her mother’s Charles Street neighborhood when a youngster next door took him on a s a science project. They thought at first that he was a she, but then the bird developed a big red comb and showy tailfeathers, and got a name change. “Little Red Hen” became “Big Red.” There have been some suggestions that Big Red should wind up in a cooking pot, but his friend won’t hear of it, and asks her daughter regularly, “Have you fed my rooster?” -Charlotte Perkins ■■ * msr W, J im 4i Contributed Big Red pays a visit to his good friend, Estelle Hunt. yelling at the top of their lungs. It was a sight to see. Then, when they got to the dump they saw some sofas that they thought would just be perfect in their playroom. They tried to talk their dad into bringing them home, but thankfully he refused. Another redneck joke that qualifies us for redneck sta tus is, “You have a complete set of ‘Cool Whip’ bowls in your kitchen. Now I don’t know any southerner that doesn’t have second-hand ‘Cool Whip’ bowls. They are great for leftovers, and are also per fect to use when taking food to someone who is sick since they don’t have to worry about returning your dishes to you. the 1820’s by Dr. Joel Robert Poinsett, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. He returned to his home in Charleston, S.C. with enough cuttings to begin their cultivation. •The poinsettia has many names, some of which are “flame leaf,” “flower of the holy night,” and “crown of the Andes.” •California is the top poin settia producing state. The Paul EcTke Ranch in Encinitas, California grows over 80% of the poinsettias in the U.S. for the wholesale market. •December 12 is National Poinsettia Day. •Poinsettia branches and leaves ooze a milky sap which is not considered poisonous. An Ohio State study showed that a 50-pound child who ate 500 bracts (colored leaves) devel oped only a slight stomach ache. One redneck joke shows that we come from a long line of rednecks. It is “You hit a deer with your car - on Eurpose”. Well, my hus and’s grandmother didn’t hit deer on purpose, she hit possums. She would veer off the road and even into a ditch to hit possums. She said they ate her chicken eggs. And the redneck joke that qualifies us for “Redneck Family of the Year” is “The receptionist at your place of business checks the rat traps daily”. Well, we don’t have a place of business, but when we built our house and moved to the country we obviously displaced a lot of mice. We found that our house SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2007 ♦ •80% of Americans prefer red poinsettias; 8% prefer white and 6% prefer pink. •Poinsettias are the best sell ing flowering potted plant in the U.S. In 2004, over 61 mil lion plants wer6 sold. Eiyoy your poinsettias this Christmas season! Tim Lewis is a Georgia Green Industry Association Certified Plant Professional, garden ing writer, former Perry High School horticulture instructor, and former horticulturalist at Henderson Village and Houston Springs. He and his wife, Susan, own and operate Lewis Farms Nursery located on Hwy 26 two miles east of Elko, where he was bom and raised. He can be reached at(478)954-1507 or timlewis@alltl. net. and shop were literally crawl ing with mice. My husband put a bounty on the mice. He gave the boys a dime for every mouse they caught in the shop and a quarter for every mouse they caught in the house. They eagerly checked their mousetraps every morning before school and kept a running total of how much money their dad owed them. So, we might not be real classy, but as far as rednecks go, we sure have a lot of fun! Angela Lineberger lives in Perry with her husband Kerry, and five boys, Tully, age 15, and Tal, Hunter, Ben, and Luke, age 12.