Horticulture student Oonah Stringer is surrounded by some of the 2500 Christmas Poinsettias which Northern Ireland's CAFRE produces at its Greenmount Campus every year. Indigenous to Mexico and Central America, there are some eight million Poinsettias sold across the UK every Christmas, and approximately 12,000 of these plants are locally produced in NI.

CAFRE’s Horticulture Centre has been growing the plants for many years, providing students with experience of intensive crop production under glass. Oonah, who is studying part-time for her Foundation Degree (FdSc) in Horticulture, has been collecting data on the seven varieties grown at the Antrim campus which have different bract leaf colours and shapes. The plants are marketed locally and some are sold by students to raise fund for their study tours. Learn more about CAFRE’s courses at www.cafre.ac.uk