Surprise showing in the garden
Staff writer
When a unique flower plant sprang up in my garden last spring, I wondered what it was.
I did research and discovered it was a wild poinsettia with common names like fireplant, fire on the mountain, paintedleaf, and painted splurge.
The upper violin-shaped leaves are painted red at their base.
Native to Mexico, the plant grows in many states in the U.S.
I determined the reason it came up in my garden is that, for two consecutive years, I kept a Christmas poinsettia alive until spring and planted it in the garden when the weather warmed.
It dropped leaves but greened out again, eventually putting out new red leaves and going to seed. I allowed it to remain in the garden after frost killed it.
The plant must have reseeded itself. This past spring, wild poinsettias have sprung forth throughout the garden. They are beautiful plants, and I’m glad to have them.
Information on wild poinsettias is available at uswildflowers.com.