Poinsettias create ‘beautiful sight’ at Cantigny

Guests had a chance to admire a sea of poinsettias Tuesday at Cantigny Park in Wheaton during the horticulture department’s annual “Shades of Crimson” event.

Joy Kaminsky, the park’s director of horticulture, said the display of more than 3,000 poinsettias is one of only two times each year the greenhouse is open to the public.

Hundreds of people walked among 13 varieties of the plant from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., admiring the red, pink and white leaves and snapping pictures of their favorite poinsettias.

“What’s so fun about our poinsettia open house is it’s a burst of color and it’s an eye sensation,” Kaminsky said. “When all of our other gardens are going to sleep and we see a lot of browns in the landscape, it’s an opportunity to really have a beautiful sight for the cold, dreary days of Chicago.”

The poinsettias, which are native to Mexico, have been cared for in the Cantigny greenhouse for more than six months, Kaminsky said.

“Our plants are grown so well that they tend to last through our cold winter. In the spring time you can take them outside. The trick, though, is that a lot of people don’t know how to force them into bloom,” she said, adding that it is key to keep the poinsettias in complete darkness at night.

Cantigny poinsettias are available for purchase at the visitors center and golf shop. Prices are $5.50 for a small plant, $15.25 for a medium plant and $34.95 for a large one.

Kaminsky said roughly 2,000 poinsettias will be given to the Rotary Club of Central DuPage, which will sell them for a fundraiser.

The remaining poinsettias are either being used to decorate the buildings on the Cantigny estate, she said, or being sent to local nonprofit groups that “need a little bit of holiday cheer.”