The Christmas season starts in the middle of summer as we begin the process of growing beautiful poinsettias. Cuttings arrive and we plant, water and nurture them in the greenhouse. Residents and staff put their hearts into growing plants that hold their color and our DHR premium poinsettias are guaranteed to have at least three large, flowering stems.
2023 POINSETTIA PRE-ORDERS NOW OPEN
The Ranch is thrilled to announce another poinsettia season! Orders are now being accepted for the 2023 crop. Download an order form today. Please email LauraZ@downhomeranch.org with questions or to inquire about your current order.
Thanks to customers like you, the demand for DHR poinsettias is high. The 2023 season is set to be the largest EVER and we have you all to thank for that! We are capitalizing on our greenhouses to grow 15,000 of our signature crop of premium red poinsettias right on our Ranch in Elgin, TX and partnering with another Central Texas grower to source a limited number of the wonderful white poinsettias. Please note that all white poinsettias are sold out – we do have some specialty colors available through our online retail shop!
Every order placed this year empowers the lives of people with disabilities, both through a positive financial impact for the entire organization and the vocational training program that employs DHR Ranchers on the Gardens Team. Your purchase of poinsettias provides huge purpose year after year. Thank you for choosing to order poinsettias through Down Home Ranch!
If you have any questions, please contact us today at 512-856-0128 – option 1.
POINSETTIAS MAKE GREAT GROUP FUNDRAISERS
Sports teams, theatre clubs, choirs, dance groups, nonprofits, schools and more have benefited from hosting poinsettia fundraisers with us. Many groups see 40%+ profit on every plant sold, earning much needed dollars to support their programs. Ready to start earning for your group? Follow these two easy steps to get started:
- Review the poinsettia fundraiser MOU, sign and return a copy to LauraZ@downhomeranch.org
- Pre-Order your plants
Still on the fence if this fundraising option is for you? If you are interested in learning more about hosting a poinsettia fundraiser this year, please contact Laura Z by either calling 512-856-0128 x134 or emailing lauraz@downhomeranch.org.
Laura will be able to answer all your questions and provide you with two helpful documents:
- a simple step-by-step guide for having a successful poinsettia fundraiser
- sample fundraising form created on an Excel spreadsheet for your group to use or modify according to your needs
POINSETTIA VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
We are currently recruiting volunteers to help raise the current crop of poinsettias! Please visit our volunteer page for more information on scheduled shifts and how to sign up.
HOW WE GROW AND CARE FOR POINSETTIAS
While the temperatures were still hitting 100 degrees and above, we are ordering 10,000+ tiny plants that we will faithfully care for until they bloom into beautiful velvety-scarlet plants heralding the joy of Christmas.
The plants arrive in August, and we count on dozens of volunteers to help us plant the 3″ high rooted cuttings and set them out where they will be lovingly hand watered. After 3 weeks, volunteers return to help us pinch them back, and in another 3 weeks volunteers help us spread them out and hook them up to automatic irrigators, so they have room to grow in one of our 11 greenhouses.
Naturally, our Ranchers will help with all this, filling pots and racking them, pushing them to the planters, taking the racks back to the greenhouses and then starting all over again. At Christmas-time, they help pack the plants and go on deliveries as Ranch ambassadors to churches, businesses, schools and homes, proud of the work they've done.
Christmas poinsettias, Easter lilies, and spring color baskets are an important part of Down Home Ranch Enterprises. We depend upon our enterprises to supplement our charitable and fee-for-service income, to provide those things that ensure a quality of life second to none for our Ranchers.
Enterprises provide jobs for the Ranchers, but they're not the only ones that benefit. Many of our customers use poinsettia sales as an annual fundraiser. Schools, church groups and independent commercial nurseries appreciate the quality and hardiness of our poinsettias and come back for more, year after year. If you're interested in selling our poinsettias as a fundraiser, contact us at LauraZ@downhomeranch.org.
HOW WE LEARNED TO GROW POINSETTIAS
Even when Down Home Ranch was just the dream of a mom and dad who had a baby girl with Down syndrome, horticulture was on the forefront of our founders' minds. Early on, some friends gave the Ranch a large, open-sided hoop house to get started, and a few years later Joe Matthews, an Abilene businessman, gave five beautiful, gently used Nexus greenhouses, which he delivered like a gigantic erector set to the Ranch.
We didn't have the money to have them set up, so we figured out how to do it ourselves, panel by panel, bolt by bolt. Brian Loer, a math student from UT-Austin, came out many times with his buddies from Lambda Omega Alpha, the men's Catholic fraternity. He showed up a few days after graduation and asked for a job. Brian has been with the Ranch ever since, and now serves as Grower in charge of greenhouse operations!
When the greenhouses were up and functioning, another friend magically showed up to teach us the ins and outs of growing poinsettias. C.O. Smith was owner/operator of Hill Country Nursery in Austin, and out of the kindness of his heart and appreciation for our mission, shared his knowledge and experience with us.
We started small and worked our way up to as many as 15,000 plants that are delivered all over Central Texas.
To everyone who has bought our plants, helped out in the greenhouses during crunch time or donated to the Ranch to help make this dream come true, thank you! We couldn't do it without you.