By KEVIN WALKER

Michigan Correspondent

LANSING, Mich. — According to the Michigan Greenhouse Growers Council (MGGC), the star-shaped leaves that characterize poinsettia plants represent the Star of Bethlehem and help in making the plant ideal for the holiday season.

“Poinsettias are beautiful plants and come in a multitude of colors,” said Dave Mast, co-owner of Andy Mast Greenhouses and a MGGC board member. “These lovely plants can adorn your home well into the winter.”

Mast advises would-be Michigan plant buyers to look for dark green leaves when shopping for a poinsettia, and to protect the plant from cold temperatures by wrapping it in a sleeve and unwrapping it only after it is safe inside their home.

MGGC describes poinsettias as easy-to-keep household plants that brighten the indoors during the darkest time of year. The state has 55 greenhouses that produce poinsettias, and Michigan ranks sixth in the nation for poinsettia production, with plants valued at $10.4 million wholesale.

Each season Michigan greenhouse growers produce close to 2.6 million poinsettia plants.

According to Michigan State University extension, the state has 705 greenhouse operations altogether, producing $472 million worth of ornamental and vegetable crops. Kalamazoo and Ottawa counties on the western side of the state have the greatest floriculture production in Michigan.

In the USDA’s nursery and floriculture crops summary for 2014, Michigan continues to be the third largest floriculture production state in the United States, with a wholesale value of $409 million for operations producing more than $10,000 in sales.

The Michigan Floriculture Growers Council worked with the USDA on the survey to include additional questions, including about energy-efficient production and other issues.

Other details from the summary include the total number of nurseries in Michigan in 2014, the most recent year for such statistics. There were a total of 614 such operations, comprising 10,500 acres altogether.

Total sales of these operations came to $231 million, with the largest 31 businesses alone garnering $180 million. The smallest 87 operations counted made $50,000 in sales, with each getting less than $1,000.

Also, according to the summary, in 2014 there were a total of 651 floriculture operations in Michigan, with total sales, both wholesale and retail, of $472.4 million.

Floriculture operators were surveyed regarding other issues, including how they used water; how they ranked different kinds of business problems; their sources of information for business decision-making; how floriculture businesses ranked their use of different kinds of social media; time frame in which the business was started; age of business operator; establishment of business succession plan by sales class; and intent to expand within the next year by sales class.

A link to the complete survey is available online at www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Michigan/Publications/Michigan_Rotational_Surveys/index.php – click on “Nursery & Floriculture 2014.”