FROM NEW PLANT INTRODUCTION SESSION AT PPA LANSING MI 1999

THOSE OF Y’ALL THAT KNOW ME, KNOW VERY WELL THAT I LOVE TO TALK, SPECIALLY BOUT PLANTS.

WHY, ....IT WAS ME IN DENVER, JUST A FEW YEARS AGO THAT RAN A TRAY OF 80 SLIDES IN 5 MINUTES, WHEN WE ALL KNOW THAT THE LIMIT IS 3.

NOW, HERE I STAND BEFORE YOU TODAY, NOT ONLY FOLLOWING THE RULES, BUT GOING THEM ONE BETTER.

INSTEAD OF THE THREE PLANT MAXIMUM, I’M ONLY GONNA SHOW YOU ONE.

WHY, YOU ASK?????

BECAUSE IN MY LIFETIME OF GARDENING, THIS ONE PLANT HAS MADE SUCH AN IMPRESSION ON ME THAT ........ WELL...........,

SOMEONE ONCE SAID THAT "A PICTURE IS WORTH 1000 WORDS"

SO, LET ME JUST GIVE YOU A BRIEF IDEA ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED HERE AND I’LL LET YOU BE THE JUDGE.

I WISH THAT I COULD TAKE CREDIT FOR COMING UP WITH THE IDEA IN THE FIRST PLACE, BUT MOTHER NATURE DID THE THINKING FOR ME AND IN A BED OF EUPHORBIA GRIFFITHII ‘FIREGLOW’ GROWING SIDE BY SIDE WITH EUPHORBIA POLYCHROMA, ONE TORRID SUMMER EVENING, ROMANCE FILLED THE AIR AND THE "LOVE CHILD’, EUPHORBIA ‘JESSIE’ WAS CONCEIVED.

E. JESSIE HAS THE COMBINED MERITS OF BOTH IT’S PARENTS IN A NEW AND TOTALLY UNIQUE CREATION.

UNLIKE EUPHORBIA GRIFFITHII, ‘FIREGLOW’, EUPHORBIA ‘JESSIE’ IS AN ERECT PLANT, AVERAGING ABOUT 36" TO 48" TALL, EUPHORBIA ‘JESSIE’ ‘S DEEP YELLOW BRACTS BLEED COLOR ONTO HER TOP LEAVES.

BEING AN INTERSPECIFIC CROSS, EUPHORBIA ‘JESSIE’ IS STERILE AND DOESN’T SEED HERSELF AROUND LIKE EUPHORBIA POLYCHROMA.

BUT THE REAL KICKER IS THE BRILLIANT, PERFECT ORANGE MARGIN THAT GRACES THE EDGE OF EACH OF HER BRACTS.

EUPHORBIA ‘JESSIE’ IS HARDY TO MY ZONE FIVE GARDEN AND CAN PROBABLY HANDLE ZONE FOUR. IT GROWS EQUALLY WELL IN SUN OR SHADE AND DOES FINE WITH AVERAGE MOISTURE.

THIS NATURAL CREATION IS IN TISSUE CULTURE NOW AND I HOPE THAT YOU ALL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO ENJOY HER IN YOUR OWN GARDENS AND SHARE HER WITH ALL OF YOUR CUSTOMERS.