AS THE nation gets ready for the festive season, sales of the popular poinsettia plants are set to soar. The red and green plants are a favourite Christmas decoration and it is estimated that six will be sold every minute across a leading group of garden centres in the UK this winter.

Wyevale garden centres, the largest garden centre group in the UK, have started selling the poinsettia this week and it is expected to be the best-selling plant of 2014.

The poinsettia plant is a traditional Christmas favourite and has enjoyed a revival in popularity in recent years. Originating from Mexico, the exotic red-leaved plant is best grown in cooler climates with UK nurseries equipped to grow plants that are longer lasting and easier to look after than imported ones.

Marketing director at Wyevale Garden Centres, Sarah Fuller said: “The poinsettia is the quintessential Christmas plant.

“It is the only plant sold in complete perfection. All other plants are sold before their development process is finished. But the poinsettia is sold at its most beautiful and in full bloom, one of the reasons our customers love to give and receive one as a gift during the festive season and its ever-increasing popularity,” she said.

There are many different types of poinsettia, including Infinity Red, Infinity Polar, Pink Cadillac, Lipstick Pink and Premium Marble. However the vast majority sold, 80 per cent, are red and the rest are white, cream and pink. The flowers, which take eight weeks to turn from green to red, are grown in controlled greenhouses across four acres of land until they reach their optimum total height of up to 32cm.

Miss Fuller said: “Our expert horticulturists grow our poinsettias in state-of-the-art computer-controlled greenhouses based at our Woodlands Nurseries near Leicester.

“With careful handling, their beautiful, bright red foliage is in full bloom by the time they hit the shelves, perfect for spreading a little brightness during the dull winter months.”

Jamie Downes, one of Britain’s leading horticulturists and Wyevale’s nursery manager, said: “The delivery of poinsettias into our garden centres is when we know Christmas really has arrived. Every year we see an increase in demand as shoppers are looking for that something extra to decorate their homes during the festive season.”

Mr Downes has shared his top tips for tending to poinsettias. His suggestions are: • Make the poinsettia the last purchase of the day as they do not like to sit in the cold for hours • Ask for your plant to be completely wrapped in paper all the way up to the top of the foliage • Once home, position it somewhere warm and out of cold draughts • Keep the environment constant. Do not move the plant between hot and cold temperatures • Let the compost dry out before watering • Feed once a week with houseplant fertiliser • Trim the plant down by half in June and pot into multi-purpose compost • From the end of September, give it lots of natural light but it needs dark too