The familiar red poinsettia is still the colour of choice.
That is evident from the display of entries in the recent Canadian
Western Agribition poinsettia show.
“Red is still the most popular colour,” said D’Arcy Schenk,
co-ordinator of the show of the traditional Christmas plants. “About 80
percent of the market is red.”
But white, pink and marble coloured varieties are also available.
A new variety called Plum Pudding is a pale burgundy. There are also
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deep burgundy and salmon pink flowers.
And then there are blue poinsettias, made by spraying floral paint on
white poinsettias. Blues weren’t entered in the competition this year.
Poinsettias have been shown at the Regina show for about 10 years. The
plants are judged on things like uniformity, flower distribution and
blooms.
There were 98 entries from eight greenhouses, all but one of them from
Saskatchewan. All entries are available for purchase but remained on
display, watched over by members of the Regina Horticultural Society,
until the end of the show.
The funds earned from sales go into the Agribition scholarship fund.
Schenk said ideally more western Canadian greenhouses will display
poinsettias and promote their products at Agribition.
“This is a showcase of western Canadian horticultural production,” he
said.
In 2001, there were 1,080 greenhouse firms in the region; 145 of them
were in Saskatchewan.
The 120 Saskatchewan greenhouses that produce ornamental flowers and
plants, including poinsettias, geraniums, azaleas and others, reported
sales of more than $20 million last year.
Yorkton, Sask.’s Parkland Greenhouses Ltd. won the supreme championship
at Agribition for a pot of White Star poinsettias. Another entry, a pot
in the tricolor category, was the reserve supreme champion.
The pot contained the varieties Cortez Red, White Star and Freedom
Bright Pink.
