amaranthus perfecta

When and where do seeds form on this plant? I'm liking these and would like to save seeds. Mine is getting pretty now.

This photo taken Aug3.

Karen

I don't know if this is any help. http://theseedsite.co.uk/db1a.html

See the section about saving flower seeds.
http://www.ourgardengang.com/SavingSeeds.htm

Thanks, Shirley. That shows the love lies bleeding, but it was the summer poinsettia ones I was wondering about. Anyone know?

Karen

Those are gorgeous!!!! Are they blooming? It looks like they are still just in bud, but it's a litle hard to tell from the photo. If it's what I'm thinking, the little round things in the very top center of the plant are buds and they will each open into a sort of measly little flower...then the petals drop, then the seed grows, and then it is ripe. :)

I was wondering if they would come true from seed or not. They look so fancy that I bet they don't. But I wouldn't mind trying!

Suzy

Suzy: There's nothing resembling a flower yet, which is why I was wondering. I expected to see a tiny flower form on top, but there's nothing like that yet, just changing color leaves. I wondered if they'd get a tiny flower like a true Christmas poinsettia.

Karen

I'm not sure, but I was thinking they would be at the top like a true poinsettia. Plant Files says to bag the ripening seed heads, and if the flowers were all up and down the stem, that would hardly be possible.

I hope you get lots and lots and lots of seed from that :)

Suzy

This article talks about summer poinsettias, but it doesn't actually go into harvesting the seeds, but apparently it can be done successfully.

"Although resembling each other, Summer Poinsettia (Amaranthus tricolor) is very different from our Christmas poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima). Summer poinsettia is a warm season annual. Christmas Poinsettia is an outside perennial in warm climates and a year-round houseplant."

Hope this article is a bit more help. http://www.ramseygardeners.org/faq/

Thank you for all your time in investigating, Shirley!
But I still see nothing about harvesting seed from this plant.

Karen

Just got a reply from Vera on GW. I had posted a similar message on that forum, asking if this *stuff* spiraling on the stem could be early signs of seeds, and Vera says that it is indeed seed.

I took this picture tonight.

Again, thanks Shirley.

Karen

Closer

For giggles- My neighbor emerging from these plants.

Weird plants indeed.

Karen

Oohh, if those are seeds, I would like a few if you have any leftover you don't need..

Icosden: If I do indeed figure out how to collect seeds from this plant from Mars I will put them up for trade.

In the past I have not been very good about collecting, cleaning, and trading seeds, though I have done that with a select few. My seeds usually do contain a lot of chaff. I don't have the patience for all that time consuming, tedious stuff. But often saving seeds means giving up deadheading for more blooms. Seems that won't be the case with these, but I'm learning about this seed saving stuff and I make up a lot as I go along. If I do get seeds from them I'll post to that effect. I'll try to remember that you asked for some but I'm reluctant to promise at this point in time.

In this heat and drought I'm spending most of my gardening time just watering, and it's killing me! I have to get to that soon before it gets too hot. Now, at 7 a.m. it's 75 degrees, supposed to get to 96 today, and with the humidity the heat index is predicted to be in the 105 to 110 degree range. Ugh!

Karen

Oh, Karen,

We are the exact same here -- and with the drought things are looking so bad! Cleaning seeds is somehitng fun to do when it's too hot to go outside, though. Ok, maybe not fun-fun, but ....

Suzy
P.S. Love your neighbor's tush perfectly framed like that. :)

Somehow, I can't find any fun in cleaning seeds. I find it tedious. As a result, my gathered seeds tend to have a lot of chaff. It takes too much time.

I love to read. Think of all the books out there I could read instead of cleaning seeds!

Karen

Glad Vera on the GW was able to identify where the seeds are located. Collecting chaff with the seeds won't harm them germinating in the slightest. I agree that it's way to tedious & time consuming to separate out the chaff. Just ws it all together! My question is, will it come 'true' from your hand collected seed? Keeping my fingers crossed! Best of luck!

Not sure about cleanning.. Being a newbie and all, I just started getting my first blooms a couple of weeks ago.. So I haven't even collected seeds yet.. The only ones I've collected are the DL seeds in the supermarket parking lots and those are easy. Guess I'll find out soon enough..

Hi all,
Glad to read your experience with the Summer Poincettia, which by the way sets seed the same way as A. tricolor "perfecta". I have both growing and I'm going about them everyday and lightly brushing the sides with my hands while trying to lean the plant over a plastic can and its working pretty well. There are a few seeds here and there. I don't know if they are the same as the other Amaranths, but if they are, they produce seed the entire season, and can be harvested every few days. I'll keep a watch on this thread (this is the ONLY one I have seen so far on the subject) to see if anyone has any epiphanies on the subject :-).

I don't know if the amaranthus perfecta self-seeds like amaranthus cruentus and love-lies-bleeding, but if it does you won't have to worry about saving seed. Next spring you'll have more babies than you know what to do with using absolutely no effort on your part, LOL. I have been attempting to totally eradicate the love-lies-bleeding, but I love the purple amaranth so much that I'm willing to put up with weeding it out of my entire garden.....and driveway....and lawn.....and.................

Those are sure pretty though Shirley, and I think I would be willing to do a little extra weeding for them as well!

La

(amaranthus cruentus back center)

i wouldlove some seeds if you have any left
what are you looking for? plmk and thxs love the pics

Sorry, I have no seeds. Although beautiful for a short time, they really didn't last long. They fried in the heat and drought. I decided that I won't put any effort into growing them again. I left them long enough to drop some seeds though I doubt those seeds would produce very rigorous plants if they even were viable at all. If I get volunteers next year, I might let a few remain, though I doubt it. I want tougher plants.See attached photo, taken in the last week of July.

With wintersowing I know I can produce something better to take their place. So many plants, so little time.

Karen

Karen, that's such a pity but I can see where you're coming from.. Hard to stay excited when you're worring about if the plant's going to make it or not..

I had that happen to some of mine before. I think I might have watered them too much. I also had the green type just growing wild in the garden with no care what so ever. They eventually died off after getting mowed down. The seeds would come on the end of a stalk and would be many tiny seeds.

Dean_W