The Plume, the Spike and the Twisted

Plumey, spiky, twisty, and even brainy—the distinctive, sometimes outlandish flower gesture of celosia comes in various forms. It’s eye-catching and it sells. Worldwide, celosia sits in the middle teens of the B-tier of revenue rankings, and has been there for a while. A major perk of the genus is heat tolerance. Whether the dry heat of Phoenix, wet heat of Atlanta, windy heat of Chicago, or the buggy heat of Boston, celosia performs.

Well, most of them do. A celosia caveat as the summer wears on is fading color. By its nature, the flowerhead starts vibrantly but develops a muddy, mustardy overlay as the season progresses. Celosia breeders focused on the garden have responded with series that extend the lifespan of bright displays. Breeders focused on cut flowers, however, haven’t worried about the issue because their market is based on fundamentally different goals.

Still, cut flower growers buy starts just like ornamental growers, and sites like WebTrack put all celosias into one bucket. It’s important to pick out the garden series celosias in order to get the garden specific improvements. Below are a few of the major series plus some that are simply fun.

Plumosas have the familiar cockscomb plumage for a flower. These Celosias like to be sized for their retail pot, so most series have a companion to fill out the big-small or big-medium-small grower slots.

Flamma Orange	Ice Cream Mix	Fresh Look Mix

The Plumosa Look—Fine Feathered Figures

Plumosa is the look most commonly associated with celosia: tufts of plumed, feather-like cockscombs in fiery shades of red, yellow, and orange. Series tuned for trays and packs are usually paired up with a companion series for quarts and gallons that need more bulk over the top. Plumes come in a wide range of the classic vivid colors including many shades of red.

Sakata, for example, has three series. Kimono is the smallest, Flamma is mid-size, and Century is large. Their house style favors flowers that branch lower on the stem for a thicker plume or trident of plumes.

Benary, on the other hand, favors more of a slender, vertical column. Selections in their two series have taller stems with the plume higher on the stem. Glorious is the compact version while Fresh Look is for larger crops.

If PanAmerican has the desired look, the Ice Cream series works for trays and packs and First Flame is better for larger pot containers. All breeding houses follow this pattern for plumosa: a full family of colors targeting specific container sizes.

Almost always, Intenz appears in the fall in the large containers. However, spicatas can come in other colors as found in the Kosmos series. Intenz always works surprisingly well in small pots.

Intenz Purple in large pots	Kosmos Mix	Intenz in small pots

The Spicata Look—Spiky Punk Rock

Second of the major celosia groups, spicata has a spiky, gothic punk rock vibe. Intenz Purple is the Ramones of the category, often populating autumn programs in the 8 in. size. Spicata takes more time and more heat to bulk up, but summer has plenty of both. Looking lush by fall, plants are ready for back to school sales that kick off autumn programs in patio pots.

A significant market opportunity opens up for spicatas in the American South, especially in places where they plant as late as November. A color gap opens up between the end of summer and the winter pansies, and spicatas fill it nicely. Seedlings bulk up in the summer heat, become prime for retail or planting in August/September, and remain big and colorful until frost.

Spicata colors outside of purple are pretty unusual, but one series has them: Kosmos from PanAmerican. Part of their potted celosias, it has the spiky look in the full celosia color range. This series is dwarfed so the normally beefy spicata habit is more in keeping with the plumosa style.

These are the big three among the cristatas. Dracula's foliage will darken if grown in full sun. This cultivar has a cult following. The Twister series comes in all the usual celosia colors. Dragon's Breath is tall with foliage that also bronzes in the sun.

Dracula	Twisted Red	Dragon's Breath

The Cristata Look—Twisty and Brainy

Third and nerdy, in a good way, cristata has two variations. First is the stiff, sturdy fan-shaped flower of the Twisted series. Available in the typical reds, oranges, and yellows, these are taller plants well suited for shop & drop products in the summer and fall. This flower form is truly unusual, boosted by tall stems that bring the large, bright fans up and away from the foliage. It’s a true conversation starter.

Thicken that fan shape into a club or globe for the second cristata style. Dracula is the most vivid example, a blood red flower with a nearly black cape of leaves draping underneath. If you’d like to explore this flower form in more traditional colors, try the Concertina series from PanAm. It includes a dark leaf cultivar as well as a very vivid yellow.

Three unusual celosias to consider. Coral Reef is a bicolor with sherberty yellows and oranges twisted in the flower. Sol Gekko Green presents the foliage as a bi-color display. Wild Pink goes back to its roots with almost a Gomphrena casualness to the blooms. 

Coral Reef	Sol Gekko Green	Wild Pink

Recent Trends and Fun Stuff

Seed celosias are sensitive to natural day length, so their sales tend to peak in the summer and fall. For earlier sales in the retail season without using light timing tricks, turn to series like Kelos Fire (plumosa) and Kelos Atomic (spicata) which ship from Beekenkamp as cuttings or callused cuttings. The spring protocol is different from the fall, so ask or download the relevant information.

After building the core of the program, add personality with some fun stuff.

• Bicolor: Coral Reef is a bicolor cristata with a sherberty swirl of color within its twisted fan.
• Bronzy: Sometimes these cultivars are broken out into their own names, like Burning Embers or New Look (larger)/Smart Look (smaller). Other series like the Floriosa and Concertina lines tuck them in as dark leaf varieties. When bronze foliage is present there is almost always a red flower over the top.
• Foliage: Sol is a series that presents celosia as a foliage-first plant. It takes celosia’s unique leaves and pushes them even further. Foliage on Sol Gekko Green is bicolor green-burgundy whereas Sol Lizzard Leaf is fully bronze. Both have large, overlapping, pointed leaves.
• Wild and Casual: For a little gomphrena attitude try out the Wild series from Greenex. Plumes are slender and delicate to wave in the air.