After the spring sessions were cancelled due to covid-19 we are now happy to be able to provide this programming virtually!

Growing Connections Nature Heals is a free gardening program, created exclusively for people living with early-stage dementia and their care partners, offered by Dakota County Master Gardeners in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Association and Dakota County Communities for Living Initiative.

Learn more about session dates, detail and how to register here.

Let’s Get Growing 2021 will be offered as a virtual event.  You will be able to enhance your gardening knowledge through nine online classes all from the comfort of your home! Just like the in-person event, the virtual sessions will be taught by U of M Master Gardeners as well as horticulture professionals.

A new, exciting session will be held each Tuesday and Thursday in March each starting at 6:30 PM and will last approximately one hour plus a live Q&A session to get your questions answered.  Attend just one or all nine!

All classes will be FREE and are open to all interested gardeners. We invite you to make a donation of $25.00 (any amount is appreciated) to support the many educational programs the Master Gardeners of Dakota County offer to our communities.  Donations can be made by check or credit card. 

Click here for full session information and all the event details or register today.

By Gail Maifeld, MG

The Poinsettia is a weed in its native Mexico. It is called lobster plant or Mexican Flame Leaf and has become an essential part of North America’s Christmas décor. The plant that adorns mantles, coffee tables, and bookcases across North America is a descendant of a 6-foot shrub from which growers in Scandinavia and California developed the scaled-down varieties that bloom indoors.

All poinsettias are winter-flowering shrubs that are noted for the bright red bracts or leaves. Modern plants have bracts that measure 12-15 inches with green leaves. The real flowers are the insignificant, greenish-yellow center clusters. Today plants can be purchased in many colors from white, peppermint (red & white,) pink and others.

Keep a Poinsettia at normal room temperature (60-80 degrees) in a bright filtered location such as opposite light filtering blinds. Water only when the foliage droops slightly: the potting soil should then be totally saturated. No fertilization is necessary. Most individuals discard the plant soon after the holidays but with care you can have bright red bracts until April. Some enthusiasts will attempt to follow the strict schedule of taking cuttings or allow the cut back stump to develop new growth.

Commercial producers follow a strict routine that is difficult for the home grower to mimic. Poinsettias are short-day plants; the flower and bract formation is prompted by an eight-week period of 14 hours total uninterrupted darkness and 10 hours of light daily. Plants are treated with a dwarfing chemical that reduces stem length, which results in the Poinsettia plant we know today. Poinsettias are readily available so this procedure is not needed to enjoy this beautiful plant.

The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie dePaola tells the story of a young Mexican girl who had nothing for the manger scene on Christmas Eve. She picked tall green weeds to place around the stable and as the congregation prayed bright red star flowers burst open on the weed tips, casting a warm glow around the manger scene. The people named the plant la Flor de Nochebuena or Flower of the Holy Night.

Dr. Joel Roberts Poinsett, the US ambassador to Mexico from 1825-1830, brought the shrub to the United States in 1830 because the bright red leaves, which he thought to be the flower, fascinated him. He took cuttings from shrubs growing near his Mexican residence to his home in South Carolina. The plant was named for Dr. Poinsett as the Poinsettia.

Nothing says Merry Christmas like a bright red Poinsettia. Remember to thank Dr. Poinsett for this cheerful holiday plant! For more details on caring for poinsettia, visit this UMN Extension link.

Additional sources:

Tomie dePaola.  The Legend of the Poinsettia. G.P. Putmans & Sons, 1994.

Huxley Anthony, Editor.  Success with House Plants, Readers Digest,1979.

By Gail Maifeld, MG

There are two recognized cacti that have become know as the Christmas cactus. Cacti species Schlumbergera Bidgesii is the plant that has gained the title Christmas cactus because pink to dark red blooms appear in December. Schlumbergera truncata, commonly referred to as a Thanksgiving cactus or the claw, lobster, or crab cactus due to the horns that appear at the edges of leaf segments, blooms during Thanksgiving time.

Hybrids of the houseplant Christmas cactus are not the true species. Native to the rainforests, the species inhabits moist tropical forests, and grows in pockets of leaf debris that have accumulated on trees. The densely branching plant will grow to a height of 12” with pendent flat green sections of 1-1 ½ “. Terminal areoles produce single or double blooms, for a long flowering period near Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Both the Christmas cactus and Thanksgiving cactus are easily grown indoors but do ask for special treatment to guarantee bloom. Cooler night temperatures and shorter days cause the plant to bloom. In early fall (October) plant growth will slow. This signals a move to a low light location and given no water for a month. Return the plant to normal light and water regularly.

Just as short winter days begin, the plant will reward the grower with a mass of bright pink to dark red blooms. For more details on growing and caring for holiday cacti, visit the UMN Extension site.

Additional sources:

Better Homes and Gardens;  HOUSE PLANTS.  Meredith Publishing.

Success with House Plants.  The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.