by Thompson & Morgan | Sep 2, 2020 | Gardening Posts
Amaranthus caudatus ‘Love Lies Bleeding is one of the most popular varieties
Image: pjhpix/shutterstock
‘Love Lies Bleeding’, the name most commonly used for Amaranthus caudatus, is a bushy, 5ft tall, half-hardy annual with distinctive flowers that cascade to the ground in dramatic, crimson tassels. In each of these fascinating tassels is a colony of tiny, tightly packed flowers that last for many weeks.
From the Greek word ‘Amaranth’ meaning ‘the unfading flower’, the bright red blooms of Amaranthus generally retain their colour even after the flower has died. No surprise that they’re loved by gardeners and flower arrangers alike. Here’s how to grow Amaranthus in your garden.
Amazing amaranthus
In addition to the popular weeping panicles of ‘Love Lies Bleeding’, there are many other different types of amaranth to bring interest to your borders. Amaranthus tricolor ‘Joseph’s Coat’ is coveted for its stunning variegated leaves, while Amaranthus paniculatus is loved for its tall, feathery spikes.
Amaranthus is a warm weather annual that prefers a sunny position and slightly acidic soil. It belongs to a genus of over 60 amaranth species that have an established presence in nearly every continent. They’re easy to cultivate, able to tolerate poor soil and don’t require a lot of watering. Amaranth will also self-sow, bringing more flowers every year.
How to grow amaranthus
Sow amaranthus seeds outside in late spring or early summer after the last frosts. The minimum germination temperature is around 13°C, but best results are seen at 15-18 degrees.
You can direct sow seeds every 15cm (6 inches), thinning to 45 cm (18 inches) as the plants become established. Amaranth can grow to 1.8m (6 feet), so tall varieties like Amaranthus caudatus ‘Fat Spike’ will need approximately 60cm (24 inches) between plants. Don’t worry that the extra seedlings will be wasted. Rather than throwing away these tender shoots, add them to salads or stir-fries instead.
Many people prefer to start their amaranthus seeds off indoors, to give them an early start. If you want to get them going a little sooner, sow your seeds in pots or trays of moist seed compost in February to March, and cover with a very fine sprinkling of compost or vermiculite. Keep them at a constant temperature of between 20-25C but allow the temperature to reduce at night. Keep the seeds somewhere bright, as light helps them to germinate. Germination usually takes 3-15 days. Transplant your seedlings into larger pots and harden them off for 10-15 days before planting out.
As amaranthus are generally large plants, they’re best grown at the back of a flower border where they make dramatic companion plants to other tall summer favourites such as sunflowers, Cleomes, Zinnias and Nicotiana. Smaller varieties, such as Amaranthus paniculatus ‘Marvel Bronze’, look fantastic grown en masse, providing a spectacular display!
Is amaranthus safe to eat?
Historically, amaranthus was revered by the Aztecs and Incas, who believed that it had supernatural powers as food and medicine, making it one of the world’s oldest crops. It’s also sometimes known as ‘Chinese spinach’ or ‘callaloo’ in Caribbean cooking.
Today Amarathus is gaining popularity as a superfood, and more and more people are choosing to grow it in the vegetable garden. The plant’s green leaves can be eaten raw in salads, added to soups and stir fries, or simmered in curries. Similar in taste to spinach, Amaranthus leaves contain almost twice the vitamin C and the same amount of iron, but unlike spinach, the plant doesn’t bolt.
Each Amaranthus plant also produces multiple seed heads, yielding up to 5,000 seeds that are a bit like quinoa. Mild and nutty, gluten-free and packed with protein and calcium, the mild peppery flavour is a great addition to breads and cereals.
How to harvest amaranthus seeds
While most people want to grow Amaranthus for its ornamental value, it’s worth knowing a little bit about harvesting the seeds. Perhaps also having some recipe ideas if you fancy growing amaranthus to add variety to your diet.
The seed heads mature from the bottom of the tassel and move upwards, so the simplest way to test if they’re ripe is to shake out the ripe seeds into a clean bucket. Alternatively cut the seed heads, cover them with a paper bag and hang them upside down in a well ventilated place to allow them to dry for a week or two.
Are you excited by the possibilities of amaranthus growing? Tag us in your photos and share your interesting new amaranth recipes over on Facebook or Twitter. For more advice on growing different types of exotic plants, visit our hub page where you’ll find expert variety recommendations, care tips and much more.
Since the first seed catalogue was published in 1855, Thompson & Morgan has grown to become one of the UK’s largest Mail Order Seed and Plant companies. Through the publication of our catalogues and the operation of our award-winning website, Thompson & Morgan is able to provide home gardeners with the very best quality products money can buy.
by Theresa Bloomfield | Mar 16, 2017 | Gardening Posts, Vegetables, Winter gardening, Your Stories
The vegetable garden is looking a little sorry for itself at the moment. The last of the winter roots and leeks and brassicas are waiting to be harvested and there are a few weeds showing now. Nothing that a dry, sunny winters day cannot sort out. I have heavy clay soil so I use long planks resting on the side of the raised beds to work on to prevent compacting the soil, which has had some good productive frosts this year breaking up the clods.
The autumn planted garlic and shallots have benefited from the frosts as well and are looking good. So too are the autumn sown Aquadulce Claudia Broad beans. I always get a nice early crop which means some for us and the rest for the freezer and the ground can then be used for the spring onions, lettuces and radishes which I plant in the spaces between the old bean stalks that stay in the ground making nitrogen nodules on their roots to feed the brassicas next year.
I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my potato tubers, egg boxes are ready for chitting on the conservatory window sill, The ground for these will be dug over after the last red cabbage and sprouts have gone.
The garden has suffered with plenty of slugs over the last couple of years so I am very diligent about cleaning up leaves weeds and old plant stems where they like to hide. Any that I do find go straight into the chicken run where they are devoured with relish! Chickens are very good re-cyclers, they love all the outside leaves from the brassicas , swede tops and fallen fruit which they instantly turn into quality manure which is added to the compost along with the nest box material and newspapers I use to line their sleeping quarters. My reward lovely fresh eggs every day to share with family and friends.
Seeds for the season have arrived so I must dust off the propagator to set the peppers and tomatoes at the end of the month. How quickly it all comes round!
I have had my hands in soil ever since I could crawl. I remember well going out into the garden and watching my Father double digging the vegetable plot and being shown how to pick caterpillars off the brassicas. You could say he was an early organic gardener. There was something nice about sneaking round behind the outhouse and pulling rhubarb and dipping it in sugar, picking raspberries and stuffing handfuls into my mouth. It is these memories of taste and smell that never leave you and make you want to grow your own fresh fruit and vegetables.
It has been something of a treat then, to find myself working for Thompson and Morgan for the past 13 years and being able to help customers to solve their gardening problems
by Rebecca Tute | Jul 17, 2013 | Gardening News
Snippets from this week’s gardening news stories…
Big Butterfly Count
Big Butterfly Count
Butterflies’ dwindling numbers have been in the news a lot recently and we also posted a few articles on how to encourage butterflies into your garden. This week sees the start of the Big Butterfly Count, the world’s biggest survey of butterflies. All you need to do is visit the website, download a butterfly ID chart, find a sunny spot to sit in and count how many butterflies you see in 15 minutes. The survey runs from 20th July until 11th August and you can count butterflies as many times as you like and then submit your results online.
Acute oak decline – be on the lookout
British trees threatened by deadly diseases
Ash dieback has dominated the news in recent months, but now oak trees are being affected by acute oak decline. The bark in the trunk of the tree develops cracks from which a dark, sticky fluid ‘bleeds’. Another symptom is a thin canopy (tree top), a sign that the tree may soon die. Scientists are currently researching the cause of the disease, which may be bacterial. It affects both mature species native to the British Isles, the pedunculate and the sessile oak, but it is as yet unknown whether other oak species will be affected.
Acute oak decline has already been recorded in thousands of trees throughout East Anglia, the Midlands and South East England. The Forestry Commission is asking members of the public to be on the lookout for signs of the disease and to report suspected cases, either via the tree alert form or the tree alert app.
If you’re not sure which tree is which, the Woodland Trust has a comprehensive guide, giving all the information you need to be able to identify them.
Slugs – eating their way through wildflower meadows
Slugs causing havoc in wildflower meadows
Field slugs are the subject of recent research into their impact on hay meadow restoration at Newcastle University. Initial findings have shown that the field slug is particularly fond of red clover among others, an important plant in wildflower meadows because of its ability to fix nitrogen in the soil for the benefit of other plants around it. This is a bit of a blow to the recent campaigns to increase wildflower meadows in the UK, including the Coronation Meadows Initiative set up by HRH The Prince of Wales.
The study found that the slugs’ favourites were red clover, yarrow, creeping red fescue, Yorkshire fog, and rough-stalked meadow grass, many of which are being grown in wildflower and hay meadows up and down the country. Slug populations increased massively after last year’s wet summer and this year’s boggy spring, with gardeners facing a daily onslaught of the slimy critters.
There are several pest control methods, both chemical and natural. Beer traps and used coffee grounds offer some protection, organic and child and pet friendly slug pellets are available and very effective. Nematodes – microscopic organisms that are watered into the garden in spring and autumn – seek out any slugs living underground and kill them within 3 days and are completely safe for use around children and animals.
Head to our wildflower hub page to find sowing and growing tips, variety specific guides and our full range of wildflower seeds and plants.
Rebecca works in the Marketing department as part of the busy web team, focusing on updating the UK news and blog pages and Thompson & Morgan’s international website. Rebecca enjoys gardening and learning about flowers and growing vegetables with her young daughter.
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