The Flower of Christmas Eve The Legend of the Poinsettia

The Poinsettia has long been used to decorate the season. Have you ever heard the legend that surrounds this holiday plant? It goes something like this:

Pepita, a young Mexican girl, wanted more than anything to present to the Christ Child a special gift on Christmas Eve, but she had no money. Crying as she walked to church, she saw an angel who instructed her to gather weeds from the roadside and present them to the Christ Child.

Pepita took the angel’s advice and gathered a bouquet of weeds to take to the church. Upon entering the church, she placed the weeds at the feet of the Christ Child, and suddenly, her humble weeds burst into brilliant red blooms.

Poinsettia - Select and Care:

Here are a few suggestions on how to select and keep your poinsettia plant healthy and red during the Holiday Season.

When choosing a Poinsettia, look for a plant with thick, stocky stems, a deep intense color, and leaves that go down to the stems. Poinsettias are temperature sensitive, and will lose their leaves if exposed to sudden temperature drops. Be sure to wrap your plant carefully before taking it to your car. At home, place your plant in a draft-free place.

Poinsettias thrive in bright, sunny, neutral light, and need at least six hours of it each day. Place your plant by a sunny window is good, but keep it out of the hot direct afternoon sunlight to avoid having the color fade. Finally, be sure to keep the soil moist.

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by pgeiger
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My heart goes out to the folks in the Northwest. Natural disasters are never easy to handle but floods are particularly unforgiving and the long term recovery is difficult. In a perfect world we’d have just enough rain to handle our needs but that isn’t the case as we can see throughout the US and Canada. How much is enough rain anyway?

A week ago, parts of the drought ravaged South received an inch of rain. the media “complained” that it didn’t help replace the lost water. But, how much is an inch of rain??

An acre of ground contains 43,560 square feet. Consequently, a rainfall of 1 inch over 1 acre of ground could mean a total of 6,272,640 cubic inches of water. This is the equivalent of 3,630 cubic feet.

As a cubic foot of pure water weighs about 62.4 pounds, it follows that the weight of a uniform coating of 1 inch of rain over 1 acre of surface would be 226,512 pounds or about 113 short tons.The weight of 1 U.S. gallon of pure water is about 8.345 pounds. Consequently, a rainfall of 1 inch over 1acre of ground would mean 27,143 gallons of water.

So, an inch of water over an acre is a lot and spread out over the entire South it is rather significant. There is still tremendous need for water in the ground but it happens 1 inch at a time. Our next call for rain in the South is December 12 - 13th. And for the winter we think it will be “cold and wet”.

We have experienced a delay in getting the January 2008 weather updated on our website. It will be corrected before the sun sets today - our apologies.

Here is one photo of Robbie and Sam of Wayne, Maine. They were eager to shovel the first snow of the winter. We’ll see if they jump on shoveling duties when they turn 15. Winter arrived and we are hoping that it will be “White” for most places on Christmas Day.

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by pgeiger
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I realize there are some warm parts of the country, but over the weekend and today there is a whopper of a first snowstorm that has hit the Midwest and now, New England. It is a reminder that winter has arrived. In the 2007 Farmers’ Almanac we touted a White Christmas,. So, today is a start and then we hope for another 3 - 4 snow storms between now and December 25th.

Given the relatively “mild” last winter last year and the National Weather Service call for a warm winter in ‘07 - ‘08, it is good to see the cold and snow. And, it has more to do than my predictions being accurate. Cold weather and snow gives a boost to the economy. From clothing to snow blowers to insulation to ski resorts and cruises, when winter arrives on schedule, it helps an important segment of the economy.

Do you a have a neat photo of the recent snowstorm, send it to me and I’ll include on our website or a future blog. I’ll make you my honorary storm watcher. My e-mail address is pgeiger@farmersalmanac.com.

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by pgeiger
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