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Pinching Euphorbia Marginata (Snow-on-the-Mountain)?
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Posted by hvander 5B ON (My Page) on Wed, Dec 21, 05 at 20:54
| Does anyone have experience growing Snow-on-the-Mountain for mixed bouquets? Does it require pinching in the early stages? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Pinching Euphorbia Marginata (Snow-on-the-Mountain)?
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| I don't pinch mine. The stems are long and sturdy. I hate the white sap, though - on any flower/plant that I cut. I cannot seem to stem the flow. I've used a bucket of hot water - not practical. A candle does not work for me either. I just about gave up singeing the stems and use the plants/flowers unsinged. How do you folks handle this? |
RE: Pinching Euphorbia Marginata (Snow-on-the-Mountain)?
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| I don't pinch mine either. I usually cut them into their own bucket w/floral preservative in it. Then, when I'm arranging, I make sure I put that in first and let it settle, then add the rest of the flowers. Mine usually takes all summer to grow, but works great with annual asters and lisianthus! Wendy |
RE: Pinching Euphorbia Marginata (Snow-on-the-Mountain)?
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| What is the vase life on this? Does the sap shorten the vase life? I saw it in a simple bouquet with kiss-me-over-the-garden-gate and it was just stunning. :)
Dee |
RE: Pinching Euphorbia Marginata (Snow-on-the-Mountain)?
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| E. marginata has a very long vase life. It is very pretty with just about anything. I really don't know if the sap shortens other flowers' vase life or not. I have been trying to improve vase life of all my arrangements. :-) I wish I had collected all the E. marginata seeds. A lot of people have been asking for them since I posted a few photos on my member page. Dee, if you can wait, I'll send you some seeds next summer. That's the 2nd thing I've promised you. LOL. And the first has not been fulfilled yet. :-) |
RE: Pinching Euphorbia Marginata (Snow-on-the-Mountain)?
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| Euphorbia Marginata is a beautiful self-sowing annual growing in the flower garden. A word of caution about growing this plant. The milky sap is toxic, and can cause contact dermatitis in sensitive individuals. We still have scars on our wrists from burns received when the sap came in contact with the skin. We were always pretty careful about wearing latex gloves when harvesting and washing our arms after being in the field. But, that is minor compared to another really scary experience last summer. One of our adult sons worked for us last season; and, he was out in the field harvesting euphorbia into buckets of water. He plopped a handful of euphorbia into a bucket, and the water splashed out of the bucket into his eye. Within an hour, his eye was swollen up like a bull frog. And, he was off to the emergency room at the local hospital. After several doctor visits, along with antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs, many days of blurred vision, he was told how fortunate he was that his cornea wasn't damaged. I just thought I should share this information. Whether you decide to grow euphorbia marginata, is, of course, your choice. It really is unfortunate such a pretty foliage can cause such problems. |
RE: Pinching Euphorbia Marginata (Snow-on-the-Mountain)?
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| Thanks for the tips and the warning! If pinching is not required, how many stems can you get from a single plant? |
RE: Pinching Euphorbia Marginata (Snow-on-the-Mountain)?
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Depending on how big they are and how long you want the stems.
They branch out at different height, the higher up, the shorter the stems. If you plant them thickly, they don't branch out as much. So if you want multiple branch plants, they should be spaced at least 2 1/2 ft apart. Fully grown, they are at least 3 1/2 - 4' tall. .... unless other growers have different experience with this pretty plant. |
RE: Pinching Euphorbia Marginata (Snow-on-the-Mountain)?
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| Just as with zinnias, the first cutting is going to be below the first set of lateral branches. This is essentually "pinching." And, it is also going to force the plant to branch and produce nice long stems. In the field, we would space euphorbia marginata 12" apart. It's also one that we would do successive sowings two weeks apart. This is going to be our eight season selling cutflowers at market. We've never made a habit of counting stems. |
RE: Pinching Euphorbia Marginata (Snow-on-the-Mountain)?
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| Thank you pitimpinai! How kind of you! And thanks for that info, flowerfarmer. That's good to know. Do you tell your customers about this issue, or do you do anything in particular with these cuttings at the point of sale? Just curious as to this is an important enough thing to have to make customers aware. :)
Dee |
RE: Pinching Euphorbia Marginata (Snow-on-the-Mountain)?
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| I had been looking for a place to obtain Euphorbia Marginata for a couple of years. First saw it at the Chicago Botanical Garden. Anyway, today, I found J L Hudson Seeds http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/ and ordered some. The seeds were dirt cheap (pun intended) so I thought I'd share the URL. Mike |
Here is a link that might be useful: J L Hudson Seeds
RE: Pinching Euphorbia Marginata (Snow-on-the-Mountain)?
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| How many seeds in a packet for $2? |
RE: Pinching Euphorbia Marginata (Snow-on-the-Mountain)?
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| Johnny's Selected Seeds also sells this variety. They charge $1.95 for 50 seeds. |
RE: Pinching Euphorbia Marginata (Snow-on-the-Mountain)?
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There's a comment in Armitage's book from a grower with a story very like Flowerfarmer's. He nearly went blind and that was the last time he grew euphorbia. I read that and decided I would never grow it, and Flowererfarmer's story just reinforces that decision.
Kirk |
RE: Pinching Euphorbia Marginata (Snow-on-the-Mountain)?
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| Exactly, Kirk. There are so many other nice fillers to use. I'm guessing the green/white isn't the color this season anyway. If you do decide to grow this plant and sell it in bouquets at market, you will be assuming much liability. |
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