During a visit to The Flower Fields in Carlsbad to visit the ranunculus flowers, there were several exhibits. There was a sweet pea maze, several demonstration gardens, and a poinsettia display. At first, I was taken aback by the poinsettia display. It was the last exhibit and felt like a museum display of flowers with text-heavy exhibits. It was also in March 2021, several months after Christmas had passed and your potted poinsettia at home was probably dying. Why were the poinsettia flowers even here?

There’s a Southern California, a specifically North San Diego County, relationship with the poinsettias. The Flower Fields were once owned by the Ecke Family. The Ecke Family is part of this area’s history as Albert Ecke emigrated from Germany to California to find a more suitable area to grow vegetables, as the family were vegetarians. The Eckes came across a crop that bloomed in November and December and marketed it as a Christmas flower.

With their business acumen and floral know-how, a commercial product was produced. The popularity of this flower was gaining and became an iconic piece of holiday tradition. The Eckes established a greenhouse in Encinitas to grow poinsettias. At one point, they commanded over 90% of the U.S. market for poinsettias sold during the holidays. They marketed their flowers to appear on television talk shows to as a festive display during the holidays.

Poinsettia is a member of the spurge family and its scientific name is Euphorbia pulcherrima and yes, is related to your succulent Euphorbia. It is a native of Mexico and grows in parts of Guatemala. As costs became high in California, Paul Ecke III, (great grandson), moved some of their growing operations to Guatemala. They also developed different colored flowers such as yellow with red streaks and ruffled edged flowers for a larger variety and to spark interest in buyers.

The Ecke Family recently sold their poinsettia business but their business acumen and philanthropy in this area has not been forgotten. Their business helped establish The Flower Fields in Carlsbad as an agricultural and tourist destination. This exhibit was quite the surprise for me as I had low expectations and I walked away with a deeper interest in the iconic holiday poinsettia with a Southern California backstory.

To visit the Flower Fields in Carlsbad, https://www.theflowerfields.com

The Poinsettia has its own legend story as told in this exhibit. There is also a popular children’s book called “The Legend of the Poinsettia” by folkorist and popular children’s book author, Tomie dePaola.

National Poinsettia Day is December 12.