Saturday, December 6, 2008

Christmas at Greenbelt with Poinsettias

Upon reaching my 2nd destination with Aileen today, I was surprised at how many pots of ponsetias are there in the huge staircase of Greenbelt 3. I have always been fascinated with this plant, its top leaves turning red on Christmas day and returning back to its original color green after. That is why this plant has always been associated with Christmas, because of the red and green color combination not even mentioning its leaves turning red on December.


According to wikipedia, the association of poinsettias and Christmas began where legend tells of a young girl who was too poor to provide a gift for the celebration of Jesus' birthday. The tale goes that the child was inspired by an angel to gather weeds from the roadside and place them in front of the church altar. Crimson "blossoms" sprouted from the weeds and became beautiful poinsettias. From the 17th century, Franciscan monks in Mexico included the plants in their Christmas celebrations.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

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