The poinsettia, native to Mexico and known there as flor de nochebuena (Christmas Eve flower), is the most economically important potted plant sold worldwide, with annual sales reaching hundreds of millions of dollars. Its rich history and growth in popularity are steeped in lore. A poor girl’s humble offering of weeds at a nativity scene, according to Mexican legend, miraculously transformed into the stunning flower.
The poinsettia arrived in the United States through Philadelphia and quickly spread to Delaware. Philadelphia nurseryman Robert Buist introduced this classic holiday decoration to Delaware, bringing the plant with its red, white, and pink ‘flowers’ in the 1840s.
Dr. Joel Roberts Poinsett, the first U.S. ambassador to Mexico, encountered the plant, which was new to him, growing near Taxco, south of Mexico City. He brought specimens to his South Carolina home in 1828. These vibrant tropical natives are found in the rocky canyons of both Guatemala and Mexico. The Mayans and Aztecs prized the plant’s bold red bracts, which they used to create a reddish-purple dye for textiles and cosmetics.
Poinsett, who had a keen interest in botany, propagated the plants in his greenhouses and sent specimens to friends and botanical gardens. John Bartram of Philadelphia was among the recipients. Bartram gave the plant to his friend Robert Buist, a botanist with the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. The latter exhibited the plant for the first time at a Philadelphia flower show in 1829.
Buist, a successful floral import-export merchant, introduced the plant commercially in Europe in 1834. He christened it “Euphorbia Poinsettia” in honor of his friend Joel Poinsett. Strictly speaking, the botanical name had already been given by a German taxonomist in 1833 as Euphorbia pulcherrima. People soon forgot the difficult Latin names, but “poinsettia” stuck with both the American and European consumers.
William Couper, the owner of the Read House in Old New Castle, commissioned Robert Buist to design and care for the Delaware property’s acre-and-a-half garden. This plot, which still exists today, is the only documented floral layout designed by Buist. The poinsettia likely first appeared there in 1847.
In his book “The American Flower Garden Directory” of 1841, Buist described the poinsettia as “truly the most magnificent of all the tropical plants we have ever seen. From December to April it is crowned with flowers, surrounding which are bright scarlet whorls of bracteæ, frequently measuring twenty-two inches in diameter.”
Initially, poinsettias were grown in heated “stoves” built specifically for this purpose. Later, with the development of greenhouses, growers cultivated the plants on a larger commercial scale under glass. Care must be taken to produce marketable plants, maintaining a constant temperature in the hothouse and avoiding any disturbance to the roots. Growers often added soot to the topsoil to keep the leaves dark green.
Buist mastered the cultivation of the poinsettia before anyone else in the country. This expertise allowed him to monopolize the trade for a time. Others had discovered his green thumb secret by the 1860s, and the poinsettia’s popularity grew, becoming a holiday staple by the 1880s and 1890s. Growers initially marketed poinsettias as cut flowers, but began offering them as potted plants in the early 1900s.
The connection between the poinsettia and Christmas in southern Mexico goes back to the 1600s. Franciscan priests used the plant’s bright, colorful leaves and unique clusters to decorate Fiesta processions and nativity scenes. The poinsettia’s leaves, shaped like the Star of Bethlehem, have come to symbolize both the birth and resurrection of Jesus. The bright clusters, called bracts, are linked to the star that guided the Wise Men to the newborn. The red leaves remind us of the blood Christ shed during His crucifixion, while the white leaves represent His purity.
Ultimately, Robert Buist’s touch in cultivating poinsettias paved the way for the plant’s commercial success. The tradition of cultivating poinsettias in Delaware continues to thrive, building upon the foundation laid by Buist’s pioneering work in popularizing these festive plants across America. Jeff’s Greenhouse in Bethel carries on a well-established tradition today as the largest Delaware supplier of the most popular Christmas decoration.
“It was right after World War II,” founder Marian Hastings said. “We started raising hybrid flowers for some color for the yard. We began with our first plants —sage, petunias and pansies —in the cold frame.” The Hastings family has been in business on the Delmarva Peninsula ever since. The outfit, which started on a lark in 1953, has grown to include nineteen greenhouses and a gift shop. Rudolph Hastings and his son Jeff expanded the business, today selling over 65,000 plants annually (The News Journal, December 22, 1973).
“Growing poinsettias here can be challenging due to the weather, but we’ve learned to adapt,” says Jeff Hastings, who left his studies at the University of Delaware to help with the operation. “Poinsettias will not bloom unless the plants are in darkness at least 12 hours a day. The finicky short-day needs are more challenging than they would seem. To reduce ambient light, the town of Bethel shuts off all streetlights in proximity to the greenhouses for at least six crucial weeks.” (Delaware Wave, December 12, 2017).
The Hastings family’s greenhouse operation ensures that the classic holiday plant’s connection to Delaware continues to thrive.
How ironic that Joel Roberts Poinsett’s namesake was the thing that secured him a place in history. His influence extended far beyond the realm of botany. He was a man of many political accomplishments: the secretary of war, trade envoy to South America, and the country’s first minister to Mexico. He moved in the highest circles of power, knowing Napoleon personally and counting the Czar of Russia among his friends.
Poinsett collaborated with several U.S. presidents and served in both the South Carolina legislature and the U.S. Congress. His contemporaries described him as “America’s most-traveled man, our very own Marco Polo,” a nod to his fluency in six languages and his extensive journeys around the world. His intense interest in the natural world also led him to become one of the founders of what would later become the Smithsonian Institution.
Yet, even J. Fred Rippy’s Joel R. Poinsett: Versatile American, the definitive 257-page biography, surprisingly dedicates only two short paragraphs to the poinsettia, the very plant that bears his name.
No holiday decoration is complete without the fiery poinsettia, a vibrant Christmas symbol beloved worldwide for its cheerful winter colors. For generations, it has been a go-to gift, bringing warmth and festivity to the season.
Congress declared December 12 to be National Poinsettia Day, the anniversary of Joel Robert Poinsett’s death, in 2002.
