George Scott, Scott's Nursery:

Canada: "Traditional poinsettia remains the best seller"

New Brunswick based Scott's Nursery has been shipping out poinsettias for about a month now. According to co-owner George Scott, demand is steady and he expects the big numbers to come in the coming weeks. "Just before Christmas, the numbers usually increase fast." Over the last years, Scott has seen a demand for the colored varieties and the bigger sizes, but the traditional red in the traditional 6 inch pot size remains the best seller.

Scott's Nursery grows several bedding plants, potted plants, seasonal crops, spring bulbs, perennials, hanging baskets, and more in their 6-acre greenhouse in Lincoln. For the Christmas holidays, they use around a half of an acre of the greenhouse to grow poinsettias. "In Canada, it is the leading plant for the Christmas season." Scott's Nursery mainly sells the poinsettias to the Maritimes provinces.

More colors
Next to the traditional red poinsettias, Scott also grows white, pink, and bi-colored varieties. And this year, they added a new color: gold. According to Scott, the demand for colors increased over the last years. "In the past, we only sold red varieties. When starting to supply colored varieties, we saw the demand for these colors increasing. People like to match the poinsettia with their furniture." However, the red varieties are still by far the most popular. "Around 60 percent of the poinsettias we grow are red."

Bigger pot sizes
So, people still go for the traditional color, but how about the traditional size? Scott's Nursery grows the poinsettias in pot sizes ranging from 6 to 10 inches. The 6 inch pot size is the traditional size, but Scott sees an increasing demand for 10 inch pot sizes. "The poinsettias in the 10 inch pot size are real gifts as they have a lot of flowers. The poinsettias in a 6 inch pot size, however, are still the ones that are more popular. These plants fit better on a kitchen or dining table."

What's next?
Until Christmas Eve they will be selling the poinsettias. After poinsettias they will start growing Easter lilies and continue the production of cuttings. "After Christmas, we will take our Easter lilies out of the cooler and we will continue our cutting production for ourselves and some other growers for spring flowers."

For more information
Scott's Nursery
George Scott
Email: george@scottsnursery.nb.ca
www.scotts-nursery.ca