The poinsettia game is “no tiptoe through the tulips,” says Paul Ecke III, whose family’s business used to be the only one producing plants with branches emanating from a single stem. Then a university researcher published an article revealing the secret process. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Hard work goes into bringing each poinsettia plant to the marketplace, says Ecke Ranch breeder Ruth Kobayashi. Before new varieties hit shelves, the ranch tests their ability to survive. The plants are overwatered and left thirsty, exposed to extreme heat and cold, dropped from heights and driven around in rumbling trucks. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
In-vitro fertilization, of a sort, is used to create new varieties of poinsettias in the Ecke Ranch lab. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Ice Punch poinsettias are a new favorite. It can take eight years to refine a trial plants gene pool and produce a new variety. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
