In Season Guide: Poinsettia Misconceptions

One of the most common misconceptions of the poinsettia plant is that it is poisonous to people or pets. Scientists have repeatedly proven this incorrect. A 50-pound child would have to consume more than 500 poinsettia bracts to have any ill effects, and the resulting symptoms would be akin to an allergy or irritation.

Similarly, a pet that eats poinsettia leaves will probably have an upset stomach and vomit them back up, but will suffer no other toxic effects.

Rather than being poisonous, the poinsettia is actually one of the most helpful houseplants in removing pollutants from the air.

The colored "bracts" that most people consider to be poinsettia flowers are actually leaves. The flowers are the tiny yellowish green buttons at the center of each set of bracts.

In Season Guide to Poinsettia

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Poinsettia

Guide: Christmas Cactus

Closely related to Thanksgiving and Easter cacti, the Christmas Cactus has been a common holiday houseplant since the early 1800s because of its hearty winter blooms.

Christmas Cactus needs several weeks of long, dark nights in order to start producing flowers. The lack of such darkness can alter the setting of flowers on the plants. Everything from streetlights to indoor lighting can interfere.

In Season Guide to Christmas Cactus

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Cactus

Guide: Poinsettia

In Central America, poinsettia are said to have originated with a couple of poor native children who wanted to present a gift to the Christ child at the Christmas Eve services. Sad that they could not bring riches to him, they gathered some weeds along the roadside on their way to the church to present at the foot of the nativity scene.

They remembered the saying “that even the most humble of gifts, if given in love, will be accepted in his eyes.”

After the children laid the bouquet of weeds down by the nativity, the plant suddenly burst into blooms of brilliant red and all who had witnessed it swore they had seen a Christmas miracle. From that day on, the bright red flowers of the poinsettia have been known as the Flowers of the Holy Night, for they bloom each year during the Christmas season.

In Season Guide to Poinsettia

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Poinsettia

Guide: Watermelon

Nurtrition:

Watermelon is 92 percent water and it is high in lycopene, an antioxidant that may prevent some types of cancer and cardiovascular disease.

The deep orange or red flesh of the watermelon is high in vitamin C and rich in vitamin A. Vitamin A keeps the eyes healthy, while vitamin C aids with faster healing.

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Watermelon

In Season 9.22.11

• Crops in season during September in Colorado: leafy greens, lettuce, pinto beans, broccoli, celery, chili peppers, cucumbers, herbs, melons, raspberries, sweet corn, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, onions, garlic, potatoes, summer squash, tomatoes, apricots, nectarines, cantaloupe, eggplant, apples, grapes, watermelon, pears, pumpkins.

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In Season 9.09.11

• Crisp local apples, winter squash, gourds, Indian corn and pumpkins have begun to appear at Coshocton Farmers Market in Ohio. Greens such as lettuce, mesclun, arugula, kale and chard are making a comeback.. [CoshoctonTribune]

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In Season 7.19.10

Crops in season during July in Sioux Falls, South Dakota:

Beets
Blackberries
Blueberries
Broccoli
Cabbage
Carrots
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Garlic
Green Beans
Herbs
Lettuce
Muskmelon
Onions
Peppers
Potatoes
Raspberries
Summer Squash
Sweet Corn
Tomatoes
Zucchini

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• South Dakota Farmers Markets Directory