Day Trips

Red & green all over (Photo By Gerald E. McLeod)

Ellison's Greenhouses in Brenham knows Christmas flowers. The nursery grows a wide variety of different plants throughout the year, but they are most famous for the rows and rows of poinsettias that come in a wide range of colors and sizes.

"It's not the number of plants that we're most known for," says P.J. Ellison-Kalil, the owner of the greenhouses. "We're best known for having every size and variety imaginable." At Ellison's, you can find America's favorite potted flower just a few inches high or more than 6 feet tall. They have supplied poinsettias for the White House and the state Capitol with some of the taller plants.

Everything in growing is based on timing, not necessarily fertilizers or age, Ellison-Kalil says. "It's more in technique," she says. Poinsettias are very temperamental plants, but they can be coaxed into growth spurts that are amazing. For the leaves to turn the familiar red color, the plants must have 12 hours of uninterrupted darkness per day. Near the first autumn, the staff at the nursery covers the roof of the greenhouse with black plastic to control the periods of light and darkness. By mid-November the plants are changing into their winter colors.

Besides the deep red leaves, poinsettias come in many different colors to liven any holiday decor. Ellison's Greenhouses has plants in a pale pink, muted coral, creamy ivory, and shades of green. The actual flowers of the plants are the yellow, budlike berries in the center.

The Brenham nursery may not be the biggest commercial grower of poinsettias in the state, but with more than 80,000 flowers by mid-November it is among the largest. In late winter and early spring Ellison's will have more than 350,000 starter plants that are used to supply their winter stock plus other growers around the state. "We're one of the better growers with the most variety," Ellison-Kalil says.

The business that has become a Texas legend began in 1969 when Ellison-Kalil's parents, Jim and Ellen Ellison, moved to Brenham to grow greenhouse tomatoes. The first tomato crop hardly met expenses, so they switched to growing flowers and potted plants.

The poinsettias, which are now a holiday tradition, were not developed until the early 1960s. The Ellisons got in on the ground floor of the new genetically engineered plant that has longer-lasting colors and different hues of leaves. The majority of their crop will be shipped to retailers around the state by early December.

A native of Mexico and Central America, the poinsettia was brought to America by Joel Roberts Poinsett, who was America's first ambassador to Mexico in 1833. South of the Rio Grande, the legend of the Flores de Buena Noche says that when a poor peasant girl offered the Christ child a bouquet of weeds she picked from the roadside, the leaves burst into a brilliant red.

Whatever the origin of the plants, greenhouses filled with the brilliant colors of Christmas are a sight to see. While the rainbow of poinsettias may only last a few weeks from mid-November through December, the greenhouses are full of color all year round. The nursery also grows daffodils, hyacinths, tulips, roses, Easter lilies, azaleas, kalanchoes, African violets, and foliage plants. More than 150 species in all.

In an ironic twist, Ellison's has returned to growing tomatoes. Jim and Ellen sold the business to their youngest daughter in 2000 and moved to managing a greenhouse on the outskirts of town. Ellison-Kalil now offers fresh tomatoes all year. "Greenhouse tomatoes may not taste as good as what you can grow in your garden," Ellison-Kalil says, "but you have to figure in how hard you have to work to get homegrown tomatoes. Fresh off the vine from our greenhouse is certainly better than what you can get at the grocery store."

Ellison's Greenhouses is at 2107 E. Stone St. off of Blue Bell Road on the east side of Brenham. Besides a wide variety of plants, the nursery includes a mini mall of arts and crafts. The doors open Monday through Friday, 8am to 6pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 5pm. For more information, call 979/836-6011 or go to www.ellisonsgreenhouses.com.

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