The trial, run by the CSU extension service, is one of five conducted nationwide every year, Newman said. Growers who are going to invest millions of dollars into cultivating poinsettias want to know which plants will thrive. Those dollars help explain the intense interest in the viability of new breeds and the need for annual trials. Every July, CSU's Newman and his student growers welcome 1,500 cuttings of poinsettia varieties into their greenhouses. They spend three days potting the young plants and 18 weeks or so cultivating them, carefully controlling the conditions.
Poinsettias are a major crop for the greenhouse industry.
This allows growers to see how the different cultivars perform. Native to Mexico, poinsettia plants were first imported into the United States in the early 1800s by Joel Poinsett, an amateur botanist and Mexican ambassador at the time. Used by the Aztec Indians during their winter celebrations, the bright red plants so impressed Catholic priests that they began using them as part of the Christmas celebration, according to poinsettia lore. In Fort Collins, the poinsettia trial is well-known among local garden club members and university staffers. Newman says the post-trial sale generates enough cash to cover the cost of potting the plants and operating the greenhouses as well as paying the two horticulture students, Sam Kimling and James Swanson, who run the trial.