THERE are times in the gardening year when you know that everyone, with perhaps only a few exceptions, will be struggling with the very same horticultural puzzle.

Just such a time is looming on the horizon. I can guarantee that in a few weeks, I will be inundated with questions about one particular plant, so in an attempt to nip the problem in the bud I shall deal with the topic now.

Over the Christmas period a large percentage of the population of Britain will end up either buying or receiving a potted poinsettia plant. For a month or so the plant will thrive, blushing away with pride on the windowsill, tabletop or decorative container. Come February however, the top leaves will pale, wither and fall off. This is normally followed a few weeks later by the remaining leaves.

The owner of the plant has already vowed that this year they will make their poinsettia survive until next Christmas, so they keep persevering. Their persistence is rewarded only with a browning off of the stem, which proceeds to die back, inch by inch. Eventually, by March, it has found a new home in the compost bin.

Poinsettias are part of the Euphorbia family (Euphorbia pulcherrima), which can be found on just about every continent in the world. They take on many shapes, from cactus like barrels to large feathery bushes. The one thing that they have in common is that they have a sticky milky sap. This is usually not poisonous, but can irritate sensitive skin.

Having said that though, I did hear a campfire tale on my travels around the world of a group of Bushmen who prepared their evening meal on a fire made of dried euphorbia material. In the morning they were all dead, the toxins of the plant having tainted the meat as it cooked.

The poinsettia is not native to this country, but can be seen growing as a large shrub, or tree in warmer climates. The red or pink colouring is in fact not the plants flower, but bracts. These form around the small and inconspicuous flower petals, and they only form after being subjected to a specific pattern of daylight hours, temperature and watering. This can be replicated by excluding the plant from light for fourteen hours every day for up to eight weeks. This means locking it away in a cupboard or something similar from the end of September.

To be absolutely honest I have to admit that I have never actually succeeded, or had the patience to nurse a poinsettia through two Christmas's. Instead, I tend to leave it to the professionals, the greenhouse nurseries, who I know will have them tuned to flushing perfection at exactly two weeks before Christmas.

READERS QUESTIONS Mr Lethbridge wrote with an interesting query about purple runner beans, and whether they are poisonous if not cooked.

THE runner bean is one of the most popular home grown vegetable. It not only produces a sweet tasting healthy crop, but can have attractive climbing foliage, studded with brilliant flowers. In fact, when they were first imported into Britain, they were grown purely for decorative purposes.

There area few varieties of purple, or blue beans. We grew one simply called 'purple runner' two years ago at Natures World. Last year we tried out yellow ones as well as a mottled red and cream variety. The secret to stringless beans is regular cropping. If they are allowed to get too large they start diverting their juices towards making seeds, hence woody pods and large bitter beans.

The colour of the bean makes no difference to the level of toxicity. In fact, you will usually find that after a few minutes in boiling water the coloured pods revert back to green. Like all beans, however, it is the small bean seed itself that can cause upset stomachs if eaten raw and in large quantities. If it is eaten along with the pod then you will cause little harm as you will fill up before you can eat a sufficient amount of the more indigestible seed. The seeds on their own, as in kidney, borlotti or butter beans, can be eaten quite safely as long as they are cooked and softened over a longer period of time.

Please don't worry about growing these cheerful and alternative vegetables. It can add an artistic element of experimentation to your plot.

THINGS TO DO

Repair and tidy up lawns

REPAIR lawn edges or worn patches by trimming out any ragged pieces with a lawn edger (or old, sharp spade) and replacing the missing pieces with sections cut out from a non-important area of your lawn. These in turn can be resown next spring and will soon grow over.

Plant lily bulbs

LILY bulbs can be put in now, either straight into the ground or in pots. Make sure that they rest on a layer of gravel or sand and then cover them up with at least twice their depth of compost or soil.

Clip wisteria

CUT the side shoots of climbing wisteria right back to two or three bud from the main stem. This often seems cruel, but does give you a greater chance of being rewarded with floral thanks.

POST SCRIPT

For further gardening advice and information from Brigid Press, tune into Radio Cleveland on 95FM every Sunday morning from 11.00-12.00. You can email your questions for The Northern Echo to Brigid at brigidpress67.freeserve.co.uk or write to her care of Nature's World, Ladgate Lane, Acklam, Middlesbrough.

Published:14/12/2002