RALEIGH, N.C. — A poinsettia often makes up the finishing touch to many people’s holiday decorations, but the well-known flower is an integral part of North Carolina’s agriculture and economy.

What You Need To Know

  • Fairview Garden Center has been growing poinsettias for three generations

  • They raised and sold nearly 10,000 poinsettias this year

  • North Carolina is second in the nation for poinsettia production

The poinsettia plant is practically synonymous with the holidays. It was first brought to the United States in the early 1800s from Mexico and now more than 35 million are sold in the U.S. each year, but for Heather Rollins and Fairview Garden Center, the poinsettia is not only a symbol of the holidays but a symbol of family. 

Heather Rollins works among the poinsettias at the greenhouse at Fairview Garden Center. (Spectrun News 1/Rachel Boyd)

“We actually host a lot of the family here, a huge amount of family here on Thanksgiving, and what the kids like to do and the family when we’re closed that day is run around the greenhouse and play hide and seek in the poinsettias,” Rollins said. 

Fairview Garden Center in Raleigh got its start three generations ago growing poinsettias in tin cans. The family has now been growing them in the Triangle for half a century — selling nearly 10,000 this season. 

“We get them in in the summer, and we work for months and months and months to get them the perfect color, the perfect size, exactly ready for your holiday table,” Rollins said. 

Poinsettias are known for their wide array of colors and varieties with names ranging from Princettia to Jingle Bells, but many people don’t realize the sought after red color isn’t the actual flower. 

Heather Rollins points out the flower in the middle of the poinsettia, not the red, which are often mistaken as petals. (Spectrun News 1/Rachel Boyd)

“The red part that you're used to seeing in a poinsettia is called a bract, and it is a modified flower part,” Rollins said. “The actual flower of the poinsettia is this guy right here (in the middle). So a traditional poinsettia actually blooms yellow.”

The poinsettia is a tropical plant that loves a warm climate, but thanks to a Spanish legend about a girl named Pepita it became known as the "Flower of the Holy Night." According to N.C. State, North Carolina is No. 2 in the nation for poinsettia production, growing more than 4.5 million each year. 

“We love to make arrangements with living centerpieces and use these poinsettias on your table as you’re gathering around, and then this is something you can actually keep this poinsettia after the holidays and keep things growing,” Rollins said.