POINSETTIA DAY on December 12

 Guess most people DO love Poinsettias for the Advent and Christmas season.

But do you know its history?

Poinsettia Day ←click link

The date marks the death of Joel Roberts Poinsett, an American botanist, physician and Minister to Mexico who in 1828 sent cuttings of the plant he'd discovered in Southern Mexico to his home in Charlotte, South Carolina. Botanically, the plant is known as Euphorbia Pulcherrima.” (Submitted on March 11, 2010, by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina.)

If you click on the above link: Poinsettia Day, you can read: In July of 2002, the House of Representatives created Poinsettia Day, passing a Resolution to honor Paul Ecke Jr. who is considered the father of the poinsettia industry.

These Poinsettias are photographed on the day I became an American Citizen.

On December 3, I forgot to celebrate my 30th birthday...

Joel Roberts Poinsett visited Guanajuato, México in 1822 and both of us were there in the end of March, 1999: Historic Town of Guanajuato, Mexico and Adjacent Mines ←click link

Cathedral Mexico City Zocala poinsettias ←click link for images to enjoy the RED SEA of POINSETTIAS during CHRISTMAS time. We both have visited that Cathedral and it is sad that it is sinking...

We even do have a Poinsettia tree in our garden; see previous blogpost about it below.

Photo from our Poinsettia with leather deer from India.

You can read that previous post below: History of the Poinsettia.

Did you know these facts about the Poinsettia?

Which is your favorite color?

Related links: 

Joel Roberts Poinsett 1759 - 1851 Info

{Today I turned 17!} previous post by me — Yep on December 3 I did turn 30!

{Our Pinckneya Pubens - Poinsettia Tree} previous post by me about our Poinsettia Tree in our garden.

{History of the Poinsettia} previous post by me

{Poinsettia as Tree in Indonesia} | previous post by me

Are poinsettias poisonous to cats and dogs? | poinsettias are one of the best pet–friendly houseplants

My 7th Consulting Trip to India with Husband Pieter

On Tuesday, September 15, 1998 we both traveled again to India for consulting service to a new mushroom company in Pune, 

A business man from Connecticut had begged us to go there and help them out. They even paid us up front and booked our flights in business class.

So we caved in and went another time to India... On KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to Amsterdam in seats 15 A+B.

On Wednesday, September 16, we landed ahead of schedule at 6:50 in Amsterdam. With our telephone card we did call Mom, Dad seldom came to the phone. 

Pieter called with his brother Thé and around 10:45 we continued with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to Mumbai. The time difference with The Netherlands is 3.5 hours and the flight takes some 8 hours.

We were one of the first passengers to be outside at 23:20 (again only carry on!) but after some 20 minutes there still was nobody!

With my sharp hearing, I just picked up the name "Vedder" and walked towards the person and said: "I back your pardon, did you mention the name Vedder?". It was our person, without name shield and his driver stood behind the masses of people. They just got there too late, due to a party...

We got dropped off at the Iskcon Ashram temple where his family was a life patron and thus had access to two rooms...

ISKCON Temple in Mumbai famous for its HARE KRISHNA

There was in 1998 in our room, NO SHOWER and it did not smell clean either.

Thursday, September 17, by 1:00 we each were in the rather short twin beds, with our feet sticking out. Our own goose down travel pillow helped for having some more comfort!

By 4:00 they started waking up everyone for prayers... by means of an instrument that sounded like elephants trumpeting. NOT pleasant to wake up to after only 3 hours on the mattress!

The monks started chanting...

By 6:00 we went with our person to the Rail Road Station. 

Train ride to Pune got cancelled due to heavy rain and tracks being under water...

Our person started calling for 3 airline tickets instead and suddenly realized that he had sent his driver off...
So by taxi we went to the airport and had a kind of breakfast there before take off at 11:00.

Again we got dropped off at a hotel and now Pieter was quick to jump into the shower, while I started to unpack.

Soon, Pieter yelled at me from the shower, that I had to repack everything: "We're NOT staying here he said firmly, after he'd shrunk from ICE COLD WATER!"

After lunch at the mushroom farm owner's home, we went to his farm for a first observation.

Afterwards we got dropped off at the Taj Blue Diamond Hotel in Pune, very good! It is in the same group as the Savoy in Ooty.

Hotel Taj Blue Diamond Pune just click link.

Pieter did attend right away a Rotary meeting in the hotel. Again, a meeting without any food, like before in Ketti Valley, Tamil Nadu/India.

We ate some cookies with fruit in our room.

We continued with our work and got up at 6:00 for having first breakfast before the driver of the owner came to pick us up.

On Sunday, Pieter did video tape while on the road due to less traffic that day.

We slept very well due to this hotel being a good distance off the main road and thus quiet.

Some of the staff members we knew already for many years as they'd worked for Pond's India at the time we consulted there.

On Saturday, September 26, we packed up and checked out after one more delicious Indian breakfast.

We went to the mushroom farm and together with the harvest manager Shubhada Sandeep Cruz, some photos got made when she handed me fresh flowers... We have them on our video tape!

Never seen those photos.

We did receive a very special gift, a beautiful stag, entirely made out of leather.

Did post about this gift in a previous post: {History of the Poinsettia} in 2011.
We got dropped off at the Train Station by 17:35 and our carry on luggage got placed for us in the overhead rack.

Pune to Mumbai

Dadar written on the back so we knew where to get off.

Just in case Amjad our driver would not be there...
By 20:45 we reached Dadar Station and the same driver from September 16, Amjad, recognized us and he dropped us off at the airport.
Checked in and we had time for relaxing in the Taj lounge before take off by 0:50 on Sunday, September 27. This stretch was flown by Northwest Airlines and the service was by far not as courteous as from KLM!
We landed in Amsterdam, called my Parents and flew on to Atlanta at 13:05 and got home by 19:15.

End of our Indian travels for work! That means 10 x for husband Pieter and for myself 7 x.
It is never easy such a long journey with time changes and lay overs etc.
But we always did it with love, for educating those that needed it MOST.

Thanks for your visit and comment!

Related links:
My 6th Consulting Trip to India with Husband Pieter | previous post by me
My 5th Consulting Trip to India & Visit of Taj Mahal | previous post by me
Pieter Hands Check to Rotary Club Ketti Valley, India | previous post by me
My 4th Consulting Trip to India after HUGE Landslide | previous post by me

Husband Pieter's DANGEROUS Trip back from India | previous post by me
My 3rd trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter | previous post by me
Consulting for Pond's (India) Limited Mushroom Project | previous post by me
My 2nd trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter | previous post by me
Brindavan Gardens Mysore with Luxury Heritage Hotel | previous post by me

Lalitha Mahal and Maharaja Palace Mysore | previous post by me
Chamundeshwari Temple and Chamundi Hills in Mysuru India | previous post by me
Trip from Ooty to Mysuru through Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary | previous post by me
Wearing a Saree for ONE Day and Lending my Jeans | previous post by me
Pond's (India) Limited Mushroom Project | previous post by me
My 1st Trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter | previous post by me
Husband Pieter's ADVENTUROUS 2nd Trip to India | previous post by me showing the Qutb Minar

{Poinsettia as Tree in Indonesia}

THANK you all for the many Birthday wishes; here and on FB!



Most of my readers do know that we have worked and lived on the island of Java, Indonesia. In that tropical setting you find many exotic plants, shrubs and trees. Also you find there the Poinsettia Tree!

They really do become as tall as a tree and bloom year round of course. Our Poinsettia plant is only rewarding us with some blooms around Christmas. Many of you for sure have tried to keep such a plant alive but it is hard to do so... On January 18, ours looked still great and even today, it still is alive but has lost some leaves already because it is not happy in the dry conditions of winter inside our home.

Of course, those are the cultivated species and they look beautiful!

Did you know they were like trees in tropical areas?

Do you still have yours from Christmas...?

Related links:
{December 12th is Poinsettia Day} | previous post by me
{Today I turned 17!} previous post by me showing you white and red Poinsettia
{Our Pinckneya Pubens - Poinsettia Tree} previous post by me about our Poinsettia Tree in our garden.
{History of the Poinsettia} previous post by me
America's First Poinsettia: The Introduction at Bartram’s Garden  published on Poinsettia Day, 2011!
Joell Roberts Poinsett 1759 - 1851 Info
Joell Roberts Poinsett Info History

{December 12th is Poinsettia Day}

Poinsettia Day ←click link 

December 12th is Poinsettia Day. The date marks the death of Joel Roberts Poinsett, an American botanist, physician and Minister to Mexico who in 1828 sent cuttings of the plant he'd discovered in Southern Mexico to his home in Charlotte, South Carolina. Botanically, the plant is known as Euphorbia Pulcherrima.” (Submitted on March 11, 2010, by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina.)

If you click on the above link: Poinsettia Day, you can read: In July of 2002, the House of Representatives created Poinsettia Day, passing a Resolution to honor Paul Ecke Jr. who is considered the father of the poinsettia industry.

These Poinsettias are photographed on the day I became an American Citizen.

On December 3, I forgot to celebrate my 19th birthday...

We even do have a Poinsettia tree in our garden; see previous blogpost about it below.

Last year's photo from our Poinsettia with leather deer from India.

You can read that previous post below: History of the Poinsettia.

Did you know these facts about the Poinsettia?

Which is your favorite color?

Related links:
Joel Roberts Poinsett 1759 - 1851 Info
{Today I turned 17!} previous post by me
{Our Pinckneya Pubens - Poinsettia Tree} previous post by me about our Poinsettia Tree in our garden.
{History of the Poinsettia} previous post by me

{History of the Poinsettia}

History of the Poinsettia

In 1825, Mexican Ambassador and Charleston native, Joel Roberts Poinsett found a pulchritudinous red flowering plant while wandering on a mountain trail in rural Mexico. He was so taken with the flower that he collected a few specimens to take home to his Charleston greenhouse. In 1832, Dr. Poinsett began to successfully propagate the plant species in America. The Poinsettia became synonymous with Christmas and it is now known as the Flor de Noche Buena" or "Flower of the Beautiful Night (Christmas Eve)." Robert Buist, a famed Scotch gardener and taxonomist named the plant after learning about it from Dr. Poinsett in the mid 1830's. For info, click on the name: Joel Roberts Poinsett. Now I like to show you our red Poinsettia together with our special leather deer from India...

This is a beautiful handmade deer from leather. A gift that we got in Pune, Maharashtra state in India, from the company we did consulting for.

The craftmanship is incredible! Even the antlers of this stag are made of leather...

Nice Christmas combination; Deer with Poinsettia...

Memories from afar...

{Our Pinckneya Pubens - Poinsettia Tree}

In our garden we do have this special pink-blooming tree: Pinckneya

Scientific name (Pinckneya pubens)

Common name - Fever tree; Poinsettia tree 

Join me on a Garden Tour with: Mariette's Back to Basics.

Pinckneya is a small deciduous tree native to the coastal plains of the southeastern United States. It is notable for the very showy blossoms borne on the tips of the branches in late spring. Their color is usually pink, but the possible shades range from creamy-white to rose-red. The blossoms occur in large clusters, and a tree in full bloom is a spectacular sight.

Actually the petals of the individual blossoms are small and inconspicuous. The size and color of the bloom comes from the sepals, which can expand to several inches. Because these sepals retain their color for an extended period before fading, the show lasts for several weeks.

This is a plant of the deep south, and it can't be grown in the north except in a greenhouse. Even in the south It isn't common, either in gardens or in the wild. Its native habitat is wet acidic soils on the margins of bays, swamps, and streams, often in the light shade of scattered pine trees. Cultivated plants can grow on drier sites, but may need special attention during droughts. Root rot can be a problem, especially on poorly-drained clay soils.

But in the right conditions the species can grow fairly fast and begin blooming at a young age. It needs a moist acidic soil with good drainage, and does best in light shade. Wild specimens often spread by producing root suckers, and cultivated plants usually have multiple trunks.

A Pinckneya grows rather tall, it was hard to capture its blossoms on camera...

Pinckneya can be grown somewhat north of its native range, in the warmer parts of Zone 7. It can be killed to the ground if the temperature drops below zero (F), but will usually resprout from the roots.

Most blossoms were way up high where we could not reach them!

The scientific name of this species has been changed from Pinckneya bracteata to Pinckneya pubens. An old common name is Fever-bark Tree, and the bitter bark of the plant was formerly used as a home remedy for reducing fever. The species is related to the Cinchona Tree (Cinchona ledgerina) of South America, the original source of quinine.

Trees in our garden are rather tall and also this Pinkneya has its blossoms all the way up in the air. But at least we got you some pictures. Pieter held a branch down for me to catch on camera.

{Today I turned 17!}

On this day in 1993 I got my United States Citizenship!
So this is my 17th birthday... as a proud American.

We got up very early at 4:15 AM that day and left after breakfast by 5:30 AM to be in time for the ceremony in Atlanta at the Richard B. Russell Federal Building. At 8:30 AM the ceremony started for 257 people from 60 nations. By 9:55 AM it was over and we rushed back, to make it to Rotary lunch. Pieter introduced me as his guest with the following words: 'May I introduce my NEW American wife...'  That was well received, with laughter and happiness!

This is a picture of some of the poinsettia plants and flowers I received.

My Dublin Mom has passed away on June 25, 2009. She did adopt me as her daughter when I came here in 1983; very sweet and she's been such a help over the years whenever I faced something new or unknown.

Dear friends!

This photo was taken on December 31 of 1993 by photographer Lee Wilson. That was during an interview for Threads of Life: International Women's Textile Art by Deborah A. Duchon of Georgia State University.

For that program I had donated several of my hand made lace pieces.

This is an excerpt from my LinkedIn profile.