Blood blooms

CHRISTMAS is in full bloom at Keysborough’s Karinga Nursery.
Owner Roy Schirmer and his staff are busy dispatching 100,000 colourful potted poinsettias to retail outlets across Australia in the lead up to the festive season.
Karinga has been selling plants wholesale from Keysborough for 40 years and tricking poinsettias to flower in late spring for 30 of those.
According to Roy, the plants, which grows naturally in sub-tropical areas and usually flower in winter, arrive at Karinga in late July or early August.
They are placed under artificial light and the hours of light are gradually wound back as December approaches.
“The plants think the days are getting shorter so they flower,“ explained Roy.
Karinga featured on the ABC program Gardening Australia last month in an episode called Plant Trickery.
Poinsettias last for three or four months in a well-lit position and will grow in a garden bed with a northerly aspect.
The plant’s association with Christmas began in 16th-century Mexico.
The star-shaped leaf pattern is said to symbolize the Star of Bethlehem, and the red color represents the blood sacrifice through the crucifixion of Jesus.