Plume Celosia
Asian Garden Celosia is an award-winning heirloom variety that transformed from a Japanese breeding program into a beloved garden staple. This spiked magenta celosia grows 30 to 42 inches tall with excellent branching, earning an All-America Selection Award in 2017 for its early blooming and bushy habit. From seed to bloom takes 84 to 98 days, rewarding patient gardeners with flowers that bloom reliably from summer through fall and attract pollinators in abundance. The petals themselves are edible, making this as much a culinary curiosity as it is an ornamental showstopper.
Full Sun
Moderate
10-13
42in H x 12in W
Annual
High
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This is the celosia that Murakami Seed Company perfected for the world, and it shows. The plant branches prolifically into a bushy form that produces dozens of vertical magenta spikes rather than a single tower, making it far more useful for cutting, mixed planters, and garden design than single-stemmed varieties. Bees and beneficial insects flock to the flowers throughout the season, turning your garden into a living hub of pollinator activity. It blooms early and keeps going until frost, delivering consistent color when many other annuals fade.
The flowers make lovely herbal tea and can be mixed into pink lemonade for both flavor and striking color. Beyond the kitchen, this variety excels as a cut flower, the sturdy spikes hold up well in arrangements and the prolific branching habit means you can harvest repeatedly without sacrificing garden display. It works beautifully in mixed planters, garden beds, and as a focal point in cutting gardens where its tall, architectural form and magenta color command attention.
Sow seeds indoors 6 weeks before your last spring frost. Surface sow or barely cover seeds with vermiculite, keeping soil at 68 to 78°F for germination, which typically occurs within 8 to 14 days. Once sprouted, reduce temperature to 65°F. Grow seedlings in roomy cell-packs rather than crowding them, as rootbound seedlings can flower prematurely indoors and delay transplanting success.
Transplant seedlings outdoors about 2 weeks after your last frost date, when soil has warmed and nighttime temperatures stay above 50°F. Space plants 6 inches apart. For later blooms in regions with longer growing seasons, sow directly outdoors instead of starting indoors.
Direct sow seeds outdoors approximately 2 weeks after your last frost date. Surface sow or barely cover seeds, keeping soil consistently moist until germination.
For fresh flowers to eat or brew into tea, harvest spikes when they are fully developed and vibrant in color. Cut stems at the base with clean shears, leaving lower branches intact to encourage new spike production. The flowers can be used fresh or dried for later use in herbal preparations.
No formal pruning is needed, as the variety naturally develops a well-branched, bushy form. However, pinching the growing tip early in development encourages even fuller branching and more flower production. Deadheading spent spikes throughout the season extends blooming and promotes branching from lower nodes.
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“Asian Garden Celosia traces its lineage to Murakami Seed Company in Japan, where breeders developed this cultivar specifically for its ornamental and functional qualities. The variety earned recognition with the All-America Selection Award in 2017, a prestigious honor that judges awarded based on its exceptional early blooming, superior branching structure, and naturally bushy growth habit. This recognition brought it from specialty seed catalogs into mainstream gardens across North America, cementing its reputation as the standard-bearer for well-branched celosia varieties.”