‘Luv U Pink’ Poinsettia The Hit At Mitchell’s Open House
December 19, 2011 
Participants were invited to pick their favorite poinsettias out of 67 featured varieties at the Mitchell’s Nursery & Greenhouse open house December 4 in King, N.C. Mitchell’s grew more than 8,000 poinsettias, and three of each variety were selected for judging.
Judges were asked to choose their five favorites in five different judging categories. In addition to selecting the top five red, white, pink, marble, and novelty poinsettias, judges also had the opportunity to write in their three favorites overall.
In the red category, ‘Red Elf’ took the gold with ‘Christmas Feel Select’ and ‘1055 Tikal’ winning second and third place, respective. ‘Polar Bear,’ ‘Whitestar’ and ‘Christmas Carol White’ earned the top three spots for whites.
With only three marble poinsettias to choose from, ‘Marblestar’ was the favorite followed by ‘Winter Blush’ and ‘Mars Marble.’ Of the novelty bunch, ‘Ice Punch’ took first and grabbed the second-place prize in the overall category.
Pink plants were a huge hit this year with ‘Luv U Pink’ going for gold in the pink category and overall. ‘HC 18B Pink’ took the silver in pink and third overall.
Judy Mitchell, who owns the nursery with her husband Jim, says that while the ‘HC 18B’ was a big hit, ‘Luv U Pink’ remained the fan favorite.
“I got lots of positive feedback on ‘Luv U Pink,’” she says. “I had 100 6.5-inches, and they were gone by December 3, before our open house,” says Mitchell.
To ensure ‘Luv U Pink’ representation in the open house display, Mitchell saved a few and allowed customers to reserve them for pickup the following week.
In addition to ‘Luv U Pink,’ Mitchell says red is still the customer’s color of choice and that the ‘Shimmer Surprise,’ ‘Red Glitter’ and ‘White Glitter’ varieties also sell well.
“The poinsettia market is still alive and strong,” says Mitchell. “We all have to find our niche and work to develop it. I’m a small grower and want to remain that way.”
How was your poinsettia season? Fill Greenhouse Grower in by taking our annual survey all about poinsettias.
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