Cutting Back

Well before Christmas I bought a poinsettia for my apartment.  It was not until well after Easter that it had lost all its red bracts.  (The red "flower" of the poinsettia consists not of petals, but of modified leaves called bracts.)  The green leaves of the plant looked healthy, and I decided that I would keep the plant and see if I could get it to bloom again next Christmas.

The plant came in a tiny plastic pot, and it needed to be transplanted.  The weekend before last I went to the neighborhood "tianguis" (weekly outdoor market) and went to a stall that sells houseplants.  I bought a pretty "Talavera" style pot, and a bag of soil.  I took the plant to the laundry room and transplanted it into the larger pot there.

I then cut the plant down to the bare stems to encourage bushy new growth.

Just a week later, the stems now have tiny leaves sprouting at each nodule.  I suspect that in another week or two I will have a nice green houseplant.   Only time will tell how successful I am in getting it to bloom again.