Flowers of the holy night

Published 12:00 am Thursday, December 23, 2010

Known to most as poinsettias, the plant is typically given as a gift or used as a decoration during the Christmas holidays. A Mexican legend tells of a young girl named Pepita, who had nogift to present the Christ Child at Christmas Eve services. She gathered a handful of weeds and laid them at the foot of the nativity scene. The bouquet burst into what is now known as a poinsettia plant. Above: Kim Howell of Howell’s nursery arranges a bow on one of her final plants left this holiday season. Howell began the season with about 1,000 plants, but had about 10 left on Wednesday afternoon.