A Game Changing Pink in Poinsettias

Princettia^® poinsettias—vibrant and beautiful

You need to see ‘Princettia^® Max White’ and ‘Princettia^® Light Pink’ in person to understand what a game changer Princettias^® are for poinsettias. A quick Google will reveal quite a buzz about this series—it’s lit a Christmas fire beneath the holiday growers. Many reviewers discuss how different ‘Princettia^® Pink’, in particular, is from the standard pinks seen in the market, but they don’t seem to fully grasp what makes this pink so very unique. We have a few theories on the matter, so let’s take a closer look at this cultivar.

Poinsettia ‘Marbella’

Poinsettia breeding for pink is actually a tough business—in our opinion, it’s similar to bronco busting at a rodeo. The poinsettia’s red pigments don’t break apart easily; they tend to shatter into thick, chunky blocks so the bracts end up looking like they’re tattooed red and white. This ‘Marbella’ is a great example of the typical early step in the genetic roadmap to fabulous pink. 

Poinsettia ‘Premium Picasso’

Further down the genetic roadmap, we get much better results. A best-selling cultivar is ‘Premium Picasso’ because it has mastered a pleasing tiny dot—although we don’t get much control over it. The dots wander and splatter all over the leaf pretty much as they please, plus we can definitely see that they’re dots—like dainty freckles on a rosy-cheeked Irish colleen.

More damning is the base of the bract. It has a creamy yellow cast that is extremely hard to eradicate. Nearly all white poinsettias have the same cast—it’s just a matter of how badly tinted the bracts become. There’s nothing wrong with a creamy poinsettia if that’s the look you want, but to achieve a true blush pink we must first establish a white albino base.

Poinsettia ‘Princettia^® Hot Pink’

‘Hot Pink’ is a very popular color in the holiday market, and that creamy yellow base is the boost that makes the pink go hot. In this bract, the red is solid—no broncos to bust here—but dialed back a bit. The creamy yellow punches up from the bottom and boom!—we get ‘Hot Pink’. That heavy cream base is necessary here but for a blush pink it’s a huge liability.

Poinsettia ‘Princettia^® Max White’

This is Princettia’s^® true innovation #1: A clean white bract. It’s the best white we’ve ever seen. We’re talking wintergreen clean. Wow.

Poinsettia ‘Princettia^® Pink’

Princettia’s^® true innovation #2 comes in the form of tiny, smooth pink dots we cannot see—they don’t clump or freckle as if an artist flicked paint at the bracts. Princettias^® have dialed back the red to an incredibly light tint and maintained a smooth and silky texture. They’ve achieved hi-def pink while everyone else is still selling dot matrix pink, and we’re stuck with a DSL Nikon that struggles to capture it properly, trying to show it to you. 

The best way to capture Princettias^® in hi-def is with your very own eyes so bring in a tray and have a look for yourself: the clean white, the delicate pink—that’s it. Nothing else colors these bracts and it’s simply a triumph of breeding. We have Princettias^® all over our office, trying to figure them out—they need to be seen to be believed. If you offer small poinsettias beyond the basic red and want to sell a better poinsettia than your competitor, you need the Princettia^®.

We sell this series in the 5.5-inch pot in ‘Dark Pink’, ‘Hot Pink’, ‘Pink’ (which is a blush pink), and ‘Max White’.

Hearthside planter