Celosia argentea var. cristata “Nana”
Cockscomb celosia, cockscomb amaranth, velvet flower, cockscomb: its velvety, rippled, densely fasciated inflorescences remarkably reproduce a rooster’s comb. This curious botanical phenomenon—a fasciation stabilized through selection—creates one of the most astonishing textures in the plant world, almost mineral to the touch.
Characteristics:
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Velvety inflorescences: rippled combs in flamboyant colors—red, pink, orange, and yellow—from July to October.
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Dwarf variety: compact growth, ideal for flower beds, borders, and especially container growing.
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Excellent when dried: its colors remain vivid for years in dried bouquets.
Precautions:
- A tropical plant, it is frost-tender: destroyed by the first frosts, it is grown as an annual in our climates.
Sowing advice:
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Exposure: full sun and warmth, essential for intense coloring.
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Soil: light, well-drained, and enriched with mature compost. Unlike many annuals in this catalog, celosia appreciates well-nourished soil. However, it is sensitive to stagnant moisture and cold.
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Method: no stratification required. Sow in pots from February to April under heated cover (20–22 °C), or directly in the ground from May onward, after the last frosts. See how to sow your seeds.
Planting advice:
- Transplant into the ground in May, spacing plants 25 to 30 cm apart. Handle young plants carefully: celosia does not tolerate disturbance well, so individual pots are preferable.
Care advice:
- Water moderately but regularly, at the base without wetting the foliage.
Harvesting advice:
- For dried bouquets, cut the combs at full color, before they begin to produce seeds, and hang them upside down in a dark, well-ventilated place: darkness preserves the intensity of their colors.
Beneficial pairings:
Benefits for biodiversity:
- Its inflorescences attract pollinators without competing with other flowering species in the bed.
- Its seeds, left standing in autumn, feed small seed-eating birds.
Uses:
- Ornamental in flower beds, borders, and planters, and highly valued as a cut flower and for dried bouquets. Its young leaves are also eaten as a leafy vegetable in several countries in Africa and Asia.
Symbolism:
Celosia is associated with pride, flair, and originality. Its ability to retain its colors in a dried bouquet also makes it a symbol of immortality.
Harvesting your own seeds:
Leave a few combs to fully ripen on the plant, then shake them over a sheet of paper: the tiny, shiny black seeds fall abundantly. See how to store your seeds.
Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for all living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Volcanoes of Auvergne, we choose reproducible, non-hybrid varieties, tested for their germination rate, carefully sorted and packaged, with no chemical treatment. Our conviction: to restore gardeners’ ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
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