Had some different ones than you, but the plants of Hot Biscuits, Opoeo and others were extraordinarily large this year. Both height and "spike" size were tremendous. We had a fair amount of rain earlier in the season so they got off to a good start. Have a couple different varieties I didn't plant. Will try them next year.

Those are some beauties! I've never tried them, but I think I'll keep them in mind for next year. I love the dark colored flowers.

Kat

twrosz, your garden is beautiful!

I love amaranthus. I've grown Fat Spike for a few years and this year tried Autumn Palette and Hot Biscuits. The Autumn Palette did very well for me and I'm enjoying it, although the Hot Biscuits didn't germinate well for me. I wanted to compare these two, so I will try both again next year.

One variety I tried last year and loved was Dreadlocks. What a cool flower! I'm attaching a link below although the photo is not that great.

I bring a lot of bouquets into work, and I work in a public place, so people are always commenting on the amaranthus, wanting to know what it is. Definitely an attention-getter!

Thanks for sharing those wonderful photos!
:)
Dee

Here is a link that might be useful: amaranthus Dreadlocks

No, not loving amaranthus! This year they left a lot to be
desired. I've grown them in the past - Joseph's Coat - and
Love Lies Bleeding - this year I grew Joseph's Coat and NOT
loving it! I don't know if it's the rain or what, but I'd
be hard pressed to grow them again - even after looking at
the BEAUTIFUL pictures above.

Thanks for the positive comments ...

Dee, there's a fair bit of variation within the 'Autumn Palette' variety and I prefer this over 'Autumn's Touch. I do have a package of 'Dreadlocks' and will be sure to plant this one next year.

Tom8olvr, the colored leaf types such as 'Joseph's Coat'(Amaranthus tricolor) love lots of sunshine and HEAT. For myself, with my often cool early summers, this one has done nothing at all and I've given up trying! All the varieties I've shown here (Amaranthus cruentus) are extremely easy to grow and will self sow.

Autumn's Touch

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They look awesome when backlit

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Terry

Wow, Terry, you've got some pretty decent height going on there! How tall are the plants in the last photo?

Just beautiful!
:)
Dee

I have grown Early Splendor in 2 different batches this year....
The attractive purplish leaves really contrasts well with 'Profusion Fire' Zinnias,and it's one of the only things that looks good in a difficult light blue colored pot.
Beautiful pics,by the way!

Dee, the tallest plants there are about 3 1/2 ft. Next year I'm gonna have to plant lots more amaranthus! :)

Omniphasic, I've checked into Early Splendor and might give it a try, it's said to be a quick grower, hopefully it won't sulk in my sometimes coolish summers.

Terry

These are awesome photos! I love the textures, form and heights of all of these. Great companions, too!

I've not tried amaranthus for fear of deer or bunnies munching them. Is that a problem?

Thanks,
Cameron

Thanks for that info, Terry. Cameron, I haven't had any problems with deer or rabbits, but (knock on wood) I don't have those problems in general anyway. My nemesis is the dreaded vole.

:)
Dee

Dee, I must correct myself upon the height I had mentioned, some of the tallest are actually about 5 feet!

Cameron said "I love the textures, form and heights of all of these" ... indeed they offer so much! These are my most commented upon plants. As for deer and rabbits? ... I fend off the deer with those motion activated sprinlers, and the rabbits go in the stew pot ... lol, actually, I've never seen a rabbit here, that despite living among a heavily treed area.

I like this bicolored one ...

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Another backlit photo

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Terry

They remind me of sea coral from my snorkling trips in the Caribbean! Just stick some Sargeant Majors (damselfish) in there as garden art! LOL

My deer can't be fended off. Too many deer, too much garden. We co-exist peacefully this way, so I don't want to tempt them with something that isn't known to be deer resistant "most of the time".

Cameron

I love them too, and yours are really beautiful, Terry.

One of my favourites that I grow every year is Velvet Curtains and I'm pretty sure that's the one you're unsure of (second photo).

I don't think I've posted here before. I started reading and posting in the Cottage Garden Forum in June, because we enlarged a flower bed in the front yard in order for me to have room to grow more annuals. I have been planting more perennials in there than I had planned to, though. I am going for a cottage look, so that's why I landed there.

twrosz, your beds look like I want mine to, very cottagey! I'm thinking it must have been Cameron who put the link to this thread in the Cottage Forum, and that's how I found this. I'm so thankful, because I forgot how much I enjoyed the Love Lies Bleeding I grew in a pot one year. I had purchased it as a plant from a local nursery that grows most of the plants they sell. I want to grow some of the kind you have next year. I had never seen them before. If they grow in your zone 3, they should be OK in my zone 5.

Sue

Pudge, I think you're correct about the variety being 'Velvet Curtains' ... thanks! It really is an amazing plant!

Sue, indeed I've planned the new place to have that 'cottagey' look, This is only my second garden here (new build) and there's alot of work ahead with the rest of the flowerbeds and such. I later plan to put some perennials, small shrubs and hardy roses within the garden patch itself.

Amaranthus are very easy to start from seed. Just sow these directly where you desire them and thin as needed or plant in row and transplant. They can also be started indoors, though don't plant too early, as they grow VERY fast!

Terry

Cameron - we have a deer problem and I have tons of untouched amaranthus - so maybe they are NOT a favorite....

Carrie

I grew amaranthus for the first time this year and loved it. I would like to try a few more varieties. Can you recommend some good seed sources? I have had good servive from Select Seeds. Can you recommend some others?

Hi Phill, I'm in Canada, though have ordered from Parks and Thompson and Morgan and several places in this country. As for varieties, I do favor the plumes of 'Autumn Palette' over 'Autumns Touch', though that's just my personal taste.

VERY pretty, those colours are so striking.

I was just at my mom's the other day and she had something similiar to your pygmy torch and your unknown 2nd photo (hopi red dye, maybe?). But hers were growing in only part sun, therefore they stayed short (12-18"), and the spires (blooms) were not as robust as what you've got for pygmy torch, but almost all were held up quite straight, with little droop (but I also love the droop). I took some seed, she'd rec'd seed from a neighbor who did not remember the name of the plant, but it's hard to tell, even with looking on the web - so many look so similiar.

Is this the same plant that the seeds can be eaten from? I see it grouped with quinoa and something else on some organic farming sites.

Thanks.

Hi Kioni ... yes, the seed is edible and so is also the foliage, I've eaten some of the tender young leaves and it had actually tasted much like spinach. I've read that it's nutritious too ...

The second photo was identified as 'Velvet Curtains'. I've got some of my favorite plants marked for saving seed, though with so many types growing nearby, I'm sure I'll have all sorts of crossings going go ... will be fun to see what comes forth next year.

Terry - gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!!!! My cousin in Toronto had some, I didn't know that they would seed....I really have to get some of those for next year. I love your combos with the marigolds, and was that corn in one of the pics??!!

Dee - you need a cat or two!!! lol. My yard was full of holes and excavation this Spring (I just moved to this garden, err, house, in January). My guys are hunters, so they gleefully stuck their puddies down holes, waited for heads to pop out, generally made their lives hell. The voles left my root veggies alone, so I think most of them are gone!!

Nancy.

Nancy, my neighbor's cat is constantly patrolling a bed near our boundary that has a particularly bad vole problem. However, either the vole problem is really quite bad, or the cat is a lousy hunter, lol, because despite the cat sitting on a rock out in the bed for hours a day, looking ready to strike, I do still have voles there.

I've been planting things with very generous handfuls of crushed oyster shells, which seems to help.

Luckily, the voles haven't seemed to discover my cutting garden (yet) and that is where my amaranthus are, so they have so far been safe!

:)
Dee

Nancy, yes, indeed you see corn, there's actually a veggie garden hidden among the flowers :)

These plants are so wild!

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Is it possible to tell what kind of amaranthus I've got when it's still under a year old? I planted a "mixed packet" of seeds last spring and these sprouted (and ate everything else that tried to grow in the same planter)...they only just bloomed in the last month or so.

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I grow the second one you posted. I collected the seeds from a wild plant growing in the coastal hills here in California. I've been told that they are not native, buy are introduced species. They grow here along roads and canals, although they don't look nearly as good as they do when they are in a garden setting and recieve plenty of water. I use them to add contrast. Their bold, burgundy color is just amazing.

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Sorry, I had not come back to this thread for a long time.

central_cali369, that's a nice tropical setting you have there for yourself and the color of the amaranthus really sets it all off so well ...

catlyke, looks like you have a young plant of amaranthus 'Love Lies Bleeding'... amaranthus are annuals

Terry

What is the difference between Towers Red, and Fat Spike? Height? I grew Fat Spike one year, and loved it at ~4' Gonna hafta check into that Autumn Touch..that's BEAUTIFUL!

mmqchdygg ... 'Towers Red' is shown in the first photo, the spikes are very full and dramatic, plants are more compact with larger foliage. The fourth pic shows 'Fat Spike' with its taller growth and more loose open spikes, really good for the back of the border ... I love the two of them and will continue to grow both ... BUT, if I were to select only one variety, it would have to be 'Towers Red' ...

Time to place the seed orders for these plants :)

Terry

I think ParkSeed is selling "Towers Red" as "Candelabra" this year. At least they look the same in the photos.

Is it best to plant them in the ground or can they be started in peat pods and planted later? I'd like to make a few rows on either side of a walkway.

If planting in the ground, should I plant a lot of seeds and thin them later, or just plant them where I want them?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Hi Mojo, these are quick and easy plants that can be sown where you want them to develop, just thin as needed. I have also sown them in rows in the garden and transplanted when about 3 or 4 inches tall, always being careful to keep lots of soil on the roots. Yes, one can also start them in peat pots, I've just sown mine the other day. I've planted a good half dozen varieties :)

I hope your plants turn out !

Terry

twrosz, your amaranthus are spectacular. I'm looking for seed now. It may be too late to start seed but I'm going to try.

Question about the second photo way back on your Sept 7, 2008 post. Is that white nicotiana beside the amaranthus? If so do you remember which variety and did it have fragrance?
Marnie

Hi Marnie, glad you liked the photos :) ... and, no, it's not too late to start them now! Mine have recently been sown (in the solarium) and are just now showing themselves.

Yes, it's nicotiana in the photo, I had planted two varieties, one being "Perfume Delight" and the other "Eau de Cologne Mixed", it's likely the latter ... though, they have a pleasant fragrance, they're certainly not nearly as fragrant as the tall growing and evening scented "Fragrant Cloud" ... clumps of this plant will purfume the evening air with a wonderful fragrance :)

Terry

Thanks Terry, the two fragrant ones you mentioned are hard to find locally. I'll check online. I've been looking for Alta and haven't found it at my garden centers. Here they only seem to have Saratoga, a 2 footer that is advertised as fragrant but is not (the greenhouse has some blooming).
Marnie

twrosz - beautiful gardens! I purchased "Splendens" Amaranthus for the foliage - but if they flower like yours, I would be delighted. Can these plants be grown successfully in large containers? I chase the sun throughout the summer.
Thanks

Hi magothyrivergirl ... I have never grown these in containers, though I'm sure they would perform well ... actually, I just might try some as such and keep them well fed.

Terry

I have totally fallen in love with some of the amaranthus

Bronze Marvel on steroids
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Joseph's Coat (?)
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Lynne

Bumping this old thread! Just read about these in a waiting room, and have 4 kinds on order!

I absolutely can't wait to see them grow!!

Do gophers like them?

Suzi

I'm glad you found this old thread, Suzi. I haven't seen it before. I usually grow some of the plainer green ones for the leaves, they're good in salads, but have some more colorful ones I'm going to grow in the front yard this summer. These pics really show you what they can do, don't they?

Suzi, as eahamel mentioned, the plants are very tender and make for good human consumption, so I'm sure the gophers would love them :(

Amaranthus can seed out in great quantity and become weedy. The last few seasons, I've battled vast thick carpets of them! ... so, I've vowed to remove the spent plants soon after autumn frost. Last year, I had not planted any types other than allowing the few that had volunteered ... well, my plantings ended up looking as if something very major was missing! I now have the seed packs handy and ready to go for this spring!

Thanks so much for that! I was hoping gophers would think they are weeds. They have no interest in the gazillions of weeds on the property!

Gophers are a huge problem. We have 1.4 acres bordering wilderness, so they abound! All plantings have gone into gopher baskets, and we have decided to form 1 gallon size, cones out of gopher wire for seedlings. I hope that will give the seeds a good start.

I'm really excited to showcase the flowers in bouquets, dry some, and use the leaves in salads and the seeds as grain.

I was amazed at the many Amaranthus recipes out on the web!

Suzi