I’m dreaming of a white poinsettia Christmas

With their delightful, vibrant scarlet colour, poinsettias have become as much a part of the festive season as Christmas trees themselves.   

But shoppers will be able to get their hands on the much rarer white variety when they go on sale at Tesco. 

The white ‘Alaska’ poinsettias have been grown for the supermarket by Lincolnshire-based horticulture experts Bridge Farm Group in order to help create a ‘wow factor’ for shoppers. 

Bridge Farm Group, based in Spalding, are one of the UK’s largest growers of poinsettias and now grow over a million a year as a result of their increasing popularity.    

Their rising popularity is also good news for British growers with Bridge Farm Group now taking over from the Dutch as the main supplier of the beautiful and vibrant house plants.  

In the last five years they have increased the supply of poinsettias to Tesco by nearly 1,000%.

Tesco plant buyer Vicky l’Anson said: “Over the last few decades poinsettias have established themselves as the number one gifting flower over the festive season and are as much a symbol of the start of Christmas as mince pies. 

“This year for the first time ever we’ll have the White Alaska which we think will create a real ‘wow’ factor with shoppers.” 

The white Alaska poinsettias originate from Sabaudia, a town 100 km south of Rome in Italy. The Alaska is recognised for its unique, large pure white bracts, making it one of the whitest varieties on the market. 

The poinsettia season is one of the shortest for house plants and they remain in stores for roughly eight weeks, from the end of October till the end of December.  

The bloom, which is also known as either the Christmas Flower or the Christmas Star in horticulture circles, is one of the birth flowers for December and represents happiness and success. 

Bridge Farm Group Managing Director David Brown added: “There are over 100 different poinsettia varieties in shades of red, pink, white, yellow, orange, purple and even multi-coloured ones so we’ll be excited to see how popular the white ones are with shoppers this year.” 

The white poinsettias, which are in a basket, go on sale at over 600 Tesco stores across the UK and cost £12 each. 

www.tesco.com.