Love Lies Amaranth (Amaranthus caudatus)

Love Lies Amaranth (Amaranths caudatus): this ancient South American variety is cultivated for its particular ornamental appearance. Amaranth in its various species and cultivars is grown both for the consumption of  leaves and seeds, clearly some species are better suited to either one or the other, in this case the plant is not particularly devoted to production, on the contrary, it is extraordinarily decorative. It had its greatest expansion in the 1700s where it became very popular in the colonial houses of North  America to embellish the gardens. Cultivation is as simple as all the species of the genus Amaranthus, it does not need special attention, it is highly competitive with the spontaneous varieties and has a great capacity for self-sowing. The plant, about two meters high, develops inflorescences about seventy days after transplantation and lasts for a long time. It is precisely these cascades of carmine red flowers, up to eighty centimeters long, that have decreed the success of the over dramatic look of the plant.