Tie-Dyed Poinsettias Hit The Market

Forget the red poinsettias. Now, you can deck the halls in purple, peach, or even tie-dyed. Oregon's largest producer of poinsettias is offering the traditional Christmas plant in multiple colors. The dye is permanent. It's a mixture of ethanol and special pigment that is actually beneficial to the plant, said Sherrie Lewis, who manages the annuals department of the Johnson Brothers Greenhouse. The dyed plants cost about a dollar or two more than the nursery's selection of red, white and hybridized poinsettias, and so far sales have been pretty small. "We must have sold at least 300 or so of the blue," Lewis said. The dyed poinsettias have been popular for years in Europe, but have been slow to catch on in the United States.