Love-Lies-Bleeding

Did you know

• The dramatic, drooping crimson tassels can grow more than two feet long, dripping toward the ground like velvet ropes—giving the plant its mournful Victorian name.
• Cultivated by the Inca for over 8,000 years as a sacred grain, amaranth was banned by Spanish conquistadors who saw its blood-red blooms used in Aztec rituals.
• Its tiny seeds are a complete protein, containing all nine essential amino acids—a single plant can produce up to 60,000 seeds.
• The genus name comes from the Greek 'amarantos,' meaning 'unfading,' because the flowers retain their color long after being dried.
• Featured in Milton's Paradise Lost as the only flower that grows in heaven: 'Immortal amarant, a flow'r which once in Paradise, fast by the tree of life, began to bloom.'

Color meanings

Uses

• Cut flowers
• Dried flowers
• Edible grain
• Cottage gardens