The poinsettia that will bring you a pink Christmas

garden centres. The pink poinsettia, named J’adore, has been carefully bred to produce its vivid colour along with an extra swirl of leaves.

It will be sold by the Wyevale Garden Centres chain, whose nursery manager Jamie Downes said: ‘Red poinsettias will always be hugely popular around Christmas time, but more and more people are moving away from traditional colours when decorating their home and opting for alternative themes of white, purple or pink. Wyevale sells 80 per cent of the red poinsettias and 20 per cent other colours – up from 10 per cent in the last 25 years – and we have increased the coloured percentage again this year.’

Poinsettias are native to Central America, especially Mexico, but many sold for Christmas are grown in the UK under glass. The plant was named after an American ambassador to Mexico, Joel Roberts Poinsett, who picked some in 1825 and took them back to grow at his home in the US.

RED and green are the colours you would usually associate with Christmas – not least because of festive poinsettias. But this year things will be a shade different... as those distinctive red leaves are turning pink. A hue called ‘millennial pink’...