Winston-Salem Journal, N.C., David Bare column.

Byline: David Bare

Dec. 2--The door to one of the greenhouses at Mitchell's Nursery in King opens on a sea of color. An otherwise dreary November morning turns into a view of brilliant reds.

The greenhouse is full of colorful poinsettias in colors never imagined for this Christmas holiday standard. There was plenty of red, of course, but not the traditional red of years gone by. These are not your grandmother's poinsettias.

Mitchell's is one of 38 nurseries in the U.S. and Canada that is sponsoring poinsettia trials. Growers and breeders from as far away as Colorado and California are supplying rooted cuttings of new varieties for free to the nurseries in exchange for the public voting results. Mitchell's will hold its vote on Sunday …