Years ago there weren't hundreds of cultivars of poinsettia. They have bred
that plant to the brink! If you want to try, keep it in a very bright area
outside during the growing season. Indoors, nothing less than dead southern
exposure. Do not over water it or it will get on of the many fungal diseases it
is prone to. In September, bring it back indoors and put it in the closet every
night at 6pm and out again into the sunny window in the morning. Continue to do
this for months. Each night you don' t do this will set the plant forming
flowers and bracts for a week. You may see whitefly on the plant as they are
very prone to that too, but never use insecticidal soap on a poinsettia. It is a
euphorbia and it will melt!

Commercially, they produce these with intensive measures using shade cloth and
other elaborate procedures of pinching and feeding.

If you ask me, it's totally not worth the trouble.

On Sun, 25 Jan 2004 08:04:37 -0600, "Kathleen"
opined:

My grandmother could keep a poinsetta year-round and make it bloom
again by putting it in the basement for a while before Christmas.
This was in Iowa and in New York state.

I really want to learn how to do this but maybe it is impossible in
Texas. (?) In any case, I need to know how to keep the darn thing
alive for more than a couple months.

With hope and heart,
Kathleen (Wimberley)