Can You Keep Your Poinsettia Alive All Year Long? Our Expert Weighs In

Every year as soon as Halloween is over, stores fill up with winter holiday decorations from ornaments to wreaths to, of course, poinsettias. These plants are so strongly associated with the holidays that it might seem strange to keep them around all year long, which is likely why millions of live poinsettias are thrown in the trash every January. This is incredibly wasteful, however, especially since you can keep your poinsettia thriving all year long with a bit of care. To learn how to do so, we spoke exclusively with Tiffany Selvey, House Digest's Garden Editor and in-house Master Gardener.

Selvey explained that the key to help your poinsettia thrive is to create its ideal living conditions: "We think of poinsettias as temporary annual houseplants, but they're really just tropical plants like so many other plants we grow indoors," she stated. "With that in mind, you need to mimic that tropical environment to keep your plant alive."

Poinsettias are native to Mexico and Central America, where they rebloom every year and can grow up to 15 feet tall. Your potted houseplant is unlikely to get anywhere near that large, but proper care will keep it healthy and happy. "Like most tropical plants we grow indoors, they need sufficient light, the right amount of water, and fertilization to thrive in any environment," Selvey exclusively told House Digest. She recommends placing your poinsettia near a sunny south-facing window, aiming for six hours of direct sun as well as plenty of bright indirect light. "It could be beneficial to supplement with a grow light when the days get shorter," she added.

It's also important not to keep your poinsettia in the ornamental holiday pot that it came in, as water can pool in the bottom and lead to root rot. Selvey recommends that you repot after it finishes blooming and water your poinsettia often. "Keep the soil consistently moist, but not waterlogged," she said. "Providing extra moisture in the air will help, too, since it is a tropical plant."

"Theoretically, they could live indefinitely if they are consistently provided with their ideal growing conditions, but that can be difficult to manage," Selvey explained exclusively to House Digest. Note that poinsettias don't stay red forever. When they finish blooming in January, those bright red (or pink or white) bracts drop or turn green. So if you were worried about how to incorporate poinsettias into your decor after the holidays, it won't be any different from other houseplants.

If you want to turn your green poinsettia back to red in time for the holidays, know that this is a difficult process to replicate for your poinsettia indoors; you'll have to provide special care to the plant as fall approaches and provide 16 hours of complete darkness per day from the fall equinox to Thanksgiving. Otherwise, you can treat your poinsettia like any other houseplant and enjoy its leafy greenery for years to come.