Red & Green House Plants
- PoinsettiasPoinsettia Leaves image by Mary Beth Granger from Fotolia.com
The plant perhaps most frequently identified with the holiday season is the scarlet-and-emerald poinsettia. Other red-and-green houseplants include kalanchoes and gloxinias. Kalanchoes are succulents which produce abundant clusters of waxy, four-petaled flowers that are often bright crimson in color. These blooms appear among large, dark green leaves. The gloxinia plant, a cousin of the African violet, bears velvety red trumpet-shaped blooms and dark green, thickly veined leaves. - Poinsettias need a lot of water, while kalachoes need little.watering tools image by palms from Fotolia.com
Poinsettias need plenty of water. Dry soil causes them to shed their leaves. Strong drafts and too much direct light also harm these plants. Unlike poinsettias, kalanchoes need little water and prefer sandy soil, which may be allowed to dry completely between watering. Gloxinias flourish with moderately moist soil and direct sunlight. - Poinsettias were cultivated in ancient Mesoamerica.pyramide de chichen itza image by rachid amrous-spleen from Fotolia.com
Poinsettias were cultivated by the Aztecs, who used their red leaves to make dye. In ancient Mexico, this plant was known as cuetlaxochitl. Their English name derives from that of the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Joel Roberts Poinsett.
