You know the brilliant scarlet hue that makes poinsettias – heat loving plants native to Mexico – such a holiday staple? Reneé Mischel doesn’t mind telling you that deep hue is darn hard to get, and harder yet to keep. She also doesn’t mind telling you it’s what’s made Mischel’s Greenhouses in Williamsburg the North’s go-to place for Christmas poinsettias.

“What you see in many of the big-box stores – the faded red color – is sometimes due to the growers forcing the plants too much,” says Reneé, who owns the business with her husband, John Mischel. “They turn up the heat to force them too much, and it causes the plant to fade.”

The couple’s poinsettia greenhouse – chock full of potted poinsettias in cardinal-red, coral, cream, plus hybrids laced, mottled and marbled with white – covers about an acre. It has to. Their business supplies Tom’s and Oleson’s supermarkets around the region, as well as other retailers and organizations, which sell the plants for fundraisers.

Recently, Protestant churches have come calling for the Mischel’s plants. Area Catholic churches have long been on board, but because Catholic churches don’t believe in decorating for Christmas during the Advent season, the Mischels don’t send their delivery trucks until the last week before the holiday.

While most of the business is focused in northern Michigan, Mischel’s Greenhouses serves customers as far away as South Bend, Ind. It’s no small undertaking. The couple, Michigan State University grads of horticulture (him) and agricultural marketing (her) –begin nursing some 20,000 poinsettia cuttings each August. They employ three other people year-round, and up to 12 in peak season.

The Ticker tapped them – and, OK, a few other sources – for some poinsettia pointers and fun facts:

• The ‘i’ is not silent. While many pronounce the plant the three-syllable way (poin-SET-uh), Webster’s Dictionary and John Mischel both agree the proper way is four syllables (poin-SET-ee-uh). Both ways are excusable, however, since even Mischel’s horticulture degree doesn’t keep him from slipping back into the silent-‘i’ version.

• The colors come out as the days get shorter in the fall. Many people keep poinsettias only for one season because it’s tricky to get them to flower again. Those who wish to keep a plant’s colors returning year-after-year need to cover it in darkness for about 12 hours a day, beginning in mid-September. Even artificial light will keep it from blooming.

• The plant, native to Mexico, became a symbol of the holiday season because it naturally flowers – a Christmas-appropriate red on green – at this time of year.

• The poinsettia gets its name from Joel Roberts Poinsett. He was a U.S. diplomat to Mexico when he introduced the plant to the north in the 1820s.