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three4rd47

Celosia question...why do the ones I plant die and get these instead?

three4rd47
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago

Every spring I plant celosia - which have usually done well - but the past several years the nice small ones I plant, instead of growing, tend to fizzle out and instead these big ones come up - not always even close to where I planted the small ones. Is there such a thing as 'wild celosia'? Or do the ones I plant somehow cast off spores or whatever that take root and turn into these monstrosities? OR even though the ground in this bed gets heavily moved around each spring, are the seeds (is there such a thing relative to celosia?) still in the ground and find a way to keep coming back every year?

I'm not complaining from the standpoint of enjoying the additional color, but these things sort of take over the entire bed and overshadow other annuals I've planted. They are really a bit too large for the overall scheme of how I plan this bed. Sometimes I dig them out and move them to other places, but this year they came up in those places I've typically moved them to in past years - which would seem to support the theory of self-seeding. (?)

Just thought I'd ask about it. First picture shows two of the small ones I put in, and the 2nd picture shows what it eventually turns into. The colors of these big ones are not even what I planted but rather tend to all be shades of red/orange. I plant yellow but that color never seems to be present in these big ones.

You can see I also plant coleus, begonia, etc. but they get lost among the wild celosia forest!

Wonder what would happen to the celosia that I plant if I'd keep removing these others as they start to pop up? Have never actually tried that.





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