The California Department of Food and Agriculture recently paid a visit to Hughson to celebrate National Poinsettia Day, which took place on Monday. THE CDFA released a video for their blog, Planting Seeds, showcasing their visit to the Duarte Poinsettia Nursery, one of the largest wholesale and retail operations in the state.

Duarte Poinsettia Nursery was founded 29 years ago. Today, the operation grows and sells about 68,000 poinsettias per year, according to co-founder Anita Duarte.

“We have customers who come in for just their personal use, we have companies who buy a lot of them, churches, weddings, we do a lot of fundraisers for kids in school,” Duarte shared in the video.

According to the CDFA, California led the entire nation in poinsettia production in 2021, totaling over $35.6 million in sales.

In 2002, Dec. 12 was officially recognized as National Poinsettia Day by the United States Congress. The day aims to recognize the contributions of Joel Roberts Poinsett and Paul Ecke Jr. Poinsett was a U.S. Representative in in the 1820s and was the first man to bring the plant to the United States from Mexico. Meanwhile, Ecke Jr. is credited with founding the modern poinsettia industry.

The full video can be found on the CDFA’s official YouTube page at @CDFAtoday or on their blog website at www.plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov/wordpress.

Duarte Poinsettia Nursery is located at 1555 Baldwin Rd. in Hughson. They are open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Those interested can get the latest updates on nursery operations by heading to their website at www.duartepoinsettias.com of by liking them on Facebook at “Duarte Poinsettias.”