Love-lies-bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus)
Amaranth has been grown for 8,000 years as a nutritious seed grain and was a primary food-source of the Aztec people. These 6ft. plants have beautiful pink/red flowers that hang in tassels or strands. Note: this plant is very similar to our Burgundy amaranth but instead of having erect flowers, the flowers hang.
The young leaves are delicious in salad or steamed and the seeds are tasty and nutritious when cooked and processed. This drought tolerant variety can be grown as a hedge or in a floral cutting garden. In late summer, amaranth attracts lots of birds!
Origin: In 1998, Papa was working on a farm in Ventura County, California. A friend on a farm in Ojai, just over the mountain, gave him the parent seed of both of the amaranth varieties in our catalog. She had brought the seeds from her Grandmother’s garden in Guatemala where the family had been growing and saving the seeds for generations.
(Approximately 100 seeds per packet)
Germination rate: 95% - tested 9/17/24
Planting Instructions: Sow a group of 3 seeds 1/8" deep 8" apart after last frost in full sun. Watering amaranth seeds directly after sowing helps prevent the tiny seeds from blowing away on the wind.
