Q. I have heard that one can keep a poinsettia after purchasing it this year and get it to color again next year. What do I need to do?

A. Poinsettias are the best-selling potted plant in the U.S. during the holiday season, with millions sold each year. Poinsettia plants grow wild in Mexico as a sort of scrubby plant in waste areas. Their popularity as a holiday plant began with a legend.

There was once a poor Mexican girl called Pepita who had no present to give to the church at Christmas Eve services. Pepita didn’t know what she could give, so she picked a handful of weeds from the roadside and made them into a bouquet. She felt embarrassed because she could only give this small present to the church. As she walked through the chapel to the altar, she knelt down and put the bouquet a

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