Can global warming be to blame?

There is something very strange happening on my dining room table. See for yourself.

It's a poinsetta. Yes, I know. The mysterious plant that turns up every holiday season, causing people to wonder and wonder yet again: are the red parts leaves, or flowers?

I'm beyond that now. I'm on to bigger questions. Like, when will this thing die, already?

Do you see how red and green and plump and festive it looks? Now check the calendar. January 19th. Shouldn't it be dead? Or fading, or browning even?

It sits in a spot where it gets little direct light. I forget to water it for days, nay, weeks on end. Once, the tip of one of its red pieces (leaf or flower, you decide!)  gave the slightest indication of an unhappy curl at the tip. Out of pure sentimentality I watered, and within an hour it was happy again —  even more inappropriately festive and indestructible than before!

So now what do I do? It's practically February. Call me Scrooge, but I don't want a dang poinsetta in the house in February. Do I put it outdoors and ignore its piteous cries? Do I withhold water and let nature take its course? Or do I continue to observe and marvel at how this plant simply refuses to wither, despite being semi-neglected and hopelessly out of season? Is there a lesson to be gleaned? About life? About fashion? (Note to self: clean out closets and discard with extreme prejudice!)

And riddle me this, Batman: my Christmas cactus did not bloom this year at all, but the spring-flowering cherry tree at the foot of my driveway was blooming like an idiot all through the holidays. Coincidence, global warming, or something more?

For now, the poinsetta endures. Hmmm — if it's still around on Valentine's Day I can always trim the red parts into little heart shapes...

xoxo
m