To keep your poinsettia safe and healthy Dave Jackson says you must keep it out of the cold. Poinsettia's are tropical plants, and they need to kept at a temperature above at least 55-60 degrees. Dave tells me how your poinsettia needs to be packed for a trip outside.

"They're not only in a sleeve, that we provide, stapled at the top. If it is really cold, they need to go in a box," said Jackson.

Make sure you water your poinsettia frugally. Do not soak it! Dave says too much water may mean fungus that will overtake your plant. If you decide to keep growing your poinsettia, Dave also has some suggestions come early next spring.

First, he says to bleach a bigger pot to transplant it. Then...

"With your pruners, you are going to cut back your poinsettia to about this point...to about four to six inches off the (top) tips of the poinsettia," said Jackson.

Dave also stresses that your poinsettia will need to be fertilized with a high quality fertilizer.

"A good, quality, water-soluble fertilizer, like the Fertilome 20-20-20, is standard what we use here," said Jackson.

The poinsettia will not have color all year. The pruning-back, and fertilizer, will help it get big and lush during the spring and summer seasons; with the color green.

By next fall, you need to fertilize it again, with an all-purpose soluble plant food.

And there is one myth about poinsettias I thought, for certain, was true.

"One of the myths about poinsettias is that you have to put them in a dark room to bloom," said Jackson.

Dave says this truth is utterly false. In fact, to get a beautiful, red poinsettia, it needs twelve hours of bright sun, and 12 hours of darkness to create the perfect bloom; and you need to do this for six weeks.

Happy Poinsettia Season!