Back in the day (in this case, 25 years ago), Vic Ball and I would spend a solid week visiting poinsettia growers in various regions of the country to find out about the crop and the season, gauging prices and demand for colors and sizes.

Alas, those days seem to be over, as poinsettias have, for the most part, become low-priced holiday commodities highlighted by Black Friday 99-cent specials. It’s not that I can’t travel and talk to growers and retailers about their crops; it’s just that I’ve found folks to be less enthusiastic with their answers. However, I’m sure there are plenty of exceptions, so if you’re doing a good job with poinsettias, making money and pleasing customers with this ever-so-traditional crop, please let me know! Heck, maybe next year I’ll come see you!

All that said, I still make one poinsettia trip, and that’s five hours south to the St. Louis area and H.G. Heimos & Millstadt Young Plants annual poinsettia trials. It’s an easy and convenient way to catch up on all the current and pipeline poinsettia genetics. This was the Heimos family’s 10th such trial, and it’s really grown to become a big deal in the Midwest, with all the poinsettia breeders and many of the brokerage firms sending reps. Guest speakers were professors Ray Cloyd (Kansas State) and Janna Beckerman (Purdue). Barbecue and cobbler were served. And it snowed, making for a festive holiday atmosphere.

Jen Zurko and I shot a video of the highlights, so you can see what’s new while getting a taste of the trial. Click the image below to check it out.

Five breeders were represented at Heimos, counting Suntory, which displayed their Princettia euphorbia, a cross between E. pulcherrima (poinsettia) and some other euphorbia, which gives them small bracts but tremendous colors, especially white. If we could just get that white in a regular poinsettia!

Princettia euphorbia, alongside the other, um, whites.

The other breeders present were Beekenkamp, Dümmen Orange, Selecta and Syngenta. All told, there were 137 varieties on display by my count, down a bit from last year. I counted 12 of those as new numbered varieties. Here, in the order that we could find a breeder’s rep to show us their stuff, are some highlights:

Robyn (Beekenkamp). Robyn is a very early (7-week) red that’s good for bench-run production thanks to its very free branching and even habit. Cyathias hold on a long time, they say. As for that good branching, watch out, because if you pinch to four nodes, you might get five or six branches—tricky if you’re growing 4-in. pots on a tight spacing! (As for the name, we were told that Robyn is the name of a star, but I couldn’t find it on any list … so I’m thinking Robyn is actually the breeder’s favorite niece.)

Sirekit Mol shows off Robyn.

PON 112 White (Beekenkamp). This one is significant because it’s Beekenkamp’s first new white in about 20 years. It’s a 7.5-week variety with a strong, upright habit. Color is typical creamy white. Watch out for heat delay on this variety, as it’s sensitive to it.

PON 107 Hot Pink (Beekenkamp). This one is a later season (8.5-week) variety with hot pink bracts that they say fade not to pale pink, but to red. That should be interesting. It’s more for northern growers, as it can also suffer from heat delay, like PON 112. (I’m not showing a picture of it because it didn’t have much color for that very reason.)

Candy Cinnamon (Syngenta). This 8.5-week novelty is dappled pink with a green tinge that they compare to Viking Cinnamon by Dümmen Orange. It’s got a nice flat habit across the top of the bracts.

Harvey Lang with Candy Cinnamon.

Candy Wintergreen (Syngenta). A greenish-white that Syngenta is putting up against Dümmen Orange’s Green Envy (which is on the right in the photo). In the trial, this 8.5-week variety was more white than green due to heat issues during blackclothing. Finish cool to bring out the green (conversely, finish your whites warm to bring out the white).

SK 159 (Selecta). A late-season (9-week), medium-vigor variant of their popular Christmas Eve poinsettia. Upright and strong, with a rich red color.

Snowy White (Selecta). Shown as SK 154 in the trial, Snowy White is aptly named, as it has a very bright white color. In the video you can see that next to their variety Candlelight.

Atla (Dümmen Orange). A medium-early (8-week), medium-vigor variety with deep green foliage and bright red bracts. Sturdy and compact, it’s suited for 4-in. to 8-in. pot production. The name Atla comes from the Norse goddess of water.

QiuXia Chen with Alta.

Basilica (Dümmen Orange). A late (9-week) red aimed at the fundraiser and church crowd (hence the name). Looks like it will make a good florist-quality crop.

Frozen (Dümmen Orange). A 9-week, medium-vigor variety with interesting pointy bracts and leaves. For a white, it’s quite bright in color. Now, often a true white color comes from a thin bract, which can be prone to botrytis. Frozen is said to have been tested and shown to not be prone to this.

Golden Glo (Dümmen Orange). A compact, 8-week canary-yellow poinsettia (they say), but it was more of a butter yellow in this trial due to heat. Finish it cool, suggests Dümmen Orange, to bring out the rich yellow color.

All these and more, including this year’s named introductions, are featured in our VIDEO. Merry Christmas!

While at Heimos, I got the pleasure of seeing family patriarch Norwin Heimos, who founded the now third-generation business in 1951. While he suffers from Parkinson’s, it hasn’t stopped him from coming into the office pretty much every day. Daughter Amy Morris says her dad still helps out; for instance, when the rest of the staff is stumped for a source, his vintage Rolodex often provides a much-need, long-forgotten answer. Here he is with Amy, daughter Mickey Byland and son Bernie.

Heimos’ is not the only grower-run poinsettia trial in the country. I always get a report from Judy Mitchell of Mitchell’s Nursery & Greenhouse in King, North Carolina. While not as extensive as Heimos’ (88 varieties), it’s a whole different climate. And being a retail grower, their consumer customers get to vote for their favorites, which lends some street cred to the display. Their open house runs from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 2, with the display up from November 27 to December 7.

We spotted these at a grocery store in St. Louis. While Jen was looking for a tag, I said, “That looks like something Dan Schantz Farm would dream up.” Sure enough, that’s whose name was on the “grown-by” label.

Do I know my quirky plant suppliers?

According to their website, they also do leprechaun, bunny and Santa “character mums.”

Where’s Chris this time? Staying home and enjoying a four-day weekend, thank you very much! I’ll smoke turkey breast (and some prime brisket for the weekend), and enjoy all the traditional fixins.

As a Mayflower decendent, I like Thanksgiving and its traditions. And I like expressing thanks! Such as: I’m thankful for my long-suffering wife, my friends, my stellar staff (who work hard so I don’t have to) and for you, my loyal reader. (I know you’re loyal because you made it all the way to the bottom).

As always, let me know what’s going on in the real world, especially regarding poinsettias. You can shoot me an email at beytes@growertalks.com.