What is National Poinsettia Day?
On National Poinsettia Day, people from around the country celebrate one of the country's most popular plants of the holidays each year on December 12th.
The link between the poinsettia plant and the Christmas season is established in 16th-century Mexico. According to a legend, a girl wanted desperately to celebrate Jesus' birthday. Worried, the child was afraid she would have no gift to offer because she was so poor. An angel tells her to give any gift with love. The young girl arranged them in the manger after collecting weeds along the road. Miraculously, the weeds bloomed into stunning red stars.
Joel Roberts Poinsett, an American botanist and the first US Minister to Mexico, was the first US Minister to Mexico. He sent cuttings home to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1825.
However, the poinsettia didn't appear in American history until the early 1920s. Paul Ecke, a second-generation farmer in California, discovered a grafting technique that caused the seedlings to branch. Paul Ecke Jr. later increased sales of the poinsettia by shipping and marketing, Hawking their Christmas flower at roadside stands.
How to celebrate #nationalpoinsettiaday
