Behnke Signature Poinsettias 
It isn’t the distinctive brown paper cover, printed with the Behnke name, that makes a Behnke Signature Poinsettia. It’s the serious poinsettia growers at our Lothian Greenhouses who grow the most perfect poinsettias available anywhere. Years ago, before we decided to put the Behnke Nurseries’ name on a poinsettia, we had to decide if we were willing to provide the extra special care it would take to grow the finest poinsettia available.
- Were we willing to hand-tie each plant, with double-knots and double-loops, to the carefully slanted stakes in each pot? 42,000 poinsettias? If not, the plants couldn’t support the heavy blooming bracts.
- Were we willing to space the pots farther apart on the greenhouse benches, using up precious footage, so that the plants could develop the full, green leaves we wanted?
- Were we willing to absorb the cost of expertly controlling the photo-periodic environment in order to produce the freshest plants possible all through the holiday season? We had to develop an entire light system with over 500 lights so that we could delay the coloring of the plants, and produce the longest-lasting, most brilliant color possible all season long.
- Were we willing to invest the extra time to actually count the number of leaves on each stem so that we could pinch with precision? This was the only way we could be sure to get a full, perfectly-shaped plant with overlapping leaves.
- Were we willing to pay more for larger pots and, consequently, more potting soil, in order for our Behnke Signature Poinsettia to be in pleasing proportion to its pot?
- Were we willing to take the extra time to wrap each plant just prior to delivery or as they were purchased, not wrap them all ahead of time to save on labor as others do? We were, because we know that, if wrapped too long, poinsettia leaves break off and gasses build up and damage the leaves and flowers.
With over 40 varieties of poinsettias to care for, these considerations had to be carefully deliberated. We did deliberate, and we easily decided that our goal was to make Behnke Signature Poinsettias stand as the benchmark against which all other poinsettias could be measured – and that goal was worth any expense.
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