[bright music] I'm here with Jim and Judy Mitchell of Mitchell's Nursery and Greenhouse.

I'm so excited to here.

- Thank you for coming.

- Tell me, how did you folks get started?

- Well, we were both students at NC State in horticulture.

We went on a field trip up to Canada.

One of our students, fellow students, had a talk to give up there at a convention and we just got together on the bus going up.

The rest is history.

- [Debroah] Ain't that how it happens?

- Yep.

We would root African violets and that type of thing in a small greenhouse I had and we would go to the farmer's market in Raleigh on Saturdays while we were still in school to sell a few of our plants.

1977, we moved to the King area.

We had a small house with an extra lot on a creek.

Then in 1996, we started our greenhouse growing, and our first crop in just a basic 30 by 96 Quonset house, two of those.

We had poinsettias.

- [Debroah] How many varieties of poinsettias do you have here now?

- 85.

We're a test trial for the breeders.

After they develop 'em, before they go on the market where they send them out to a few greenhouses to trial 'em out.

And we're one of those that they trial 'em.

- [Debroah] How do I take care of them?

- Most of the time in the households, if you water 'em about once a week with a cup and a half to two cups of water to make sure the soil in that container is good and moist and it should hold 'em.

The new varieties in the last 30 years will hold up real well, usually till about Valentine's Day if you take a little bit of care.

- [Debroah] Tell me about some of the variety that you have.

You even have something called a Thanksgiving poinsettia.

- Oh, yes.

- [Debroah] And a rose one.

- Right.

- Got a yellow one that's good for Thanksgiving called Golden Glo.

- [Debroah] That is beautiful.

- Got a pure white one.

It's called Princettia White, but it's a little bit smaller than the rest of them.

- [Debroah] And that one looks really interesting.

What's that?

- This is called Winter Rose.

It's a double poinsettia.

- It doesn't even look real, but it is.

- Right, right.

- It's soft.

That's gorgeous.

[gentle music] - Oh my word.

Let's just say, I came saying to myself, "I am not buying any plants 'cause I have a lot at home."

and one look at this place and here I am.

It's wonderful.

I'm part of the Lexington Garden Club and we came here and then we're going out to lunch and we're having a wonderful outing.

- All the poinsettias are just amazing and just the different varieties are pretty impressive.

- [Debroah] Why do you think these plants are so popular, especially around holiday time?

- I think it's mainly one of those things, kind of like most of your flowering plants that originally, persons just began to like.

They grew a few.

Neighbors saw 'em, and it busted from just a small area to all across the nation and different colors, new breeders.

They come out with a variation.

It amazes me how they can come out with so many new bract sizes, as well as color variations.

- And the other thing of that is it's also the time of year it normally blooms.

It likes short days to make it bloom.

- Poinsettias are a light sensitive plant as so many of your plants are to make 'em bloom at certain times.

The native poinsettia is one that blooms this time of year as long as its sleep is not interrupted.

- Well, Judy, Jim, these are absolutely brilliant.

Thank you so much for telling me about poinsettias.

I can't wait to take some of these home to my family.

- Right.

Thank you for coming.

- [Judy] Well, thanks for bringing.

[bright music] - Mitchell's Nursery & Greenhouse is at 1088 West Dalton Road in King and they're open daily.

For more information, give them a call at [336] 983-4107 or go online to mitchellsnursery.com.