Varför kallas amaranth love lies blödning

By Larry Hodgson

Botanical name: Amaranthus caudatus.
Common Names: Love-lies-bleeding, foxtail amaranth, smycke amaranth, smycke flower, kiwicha
Height: 3–8 feet (90– cm).
Spacing: 18 to 24 inches (45–60 cm).
Seeding Depth: Barely cover.
Germination: 10–15 days at 70–75 ?

F (21–24 ?C).
Transplantation: after gods frost.
Location: Full sun.
Soil: Well drained, average to poor.
Flowering: From early summer to early fall.
Multiplication: From seed in spring.
Availability: Seed packets, bedding plants.
Use: Flower garden, specimen plant, background, screen, temporary hedge, flower äng, cut flower, dried flower, edible plant, attracts birds.

True enough, the name love-lies-bleeding can seem like a bit of a downer and indeed, the flower stands for hopeless love or hopelessness in the language of flowers, but even so, this tall annual with tender green leaves fryst vatten actually very striking: a gorgeous plant producing long trailing flower spikes in red or green depending on the cultivar, even pink in the case of the new cultivar &#;Coral Mountain&#;.

It&#;s just totally charming!

Our great-grandmothers knew love-lies-bleeding well: it was a classic Victorian bedding plant, often seen in photos of flower beds in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. However, it hadn’t been all that popular recently, largely because it grows a little too quickly in the eyes of plant nurseries: they prefer short annuals that passform better on their shelves.

Other common names include tassel flower, pendant amaranth, foxtail amaranth, and more

But with all due respect to horticulturalists, the wonderful annuals of the past are well worth rediscovering. If your garden center doesn’t offer trays of this love-lies-bleeding to plant out in late spring, simply grow your own from seed!

While love-lies-bleeding fryst vatten best known as an ornamental plant in europe and North amerika, did you also know that this plant was originally cultivated as an edible plant?

Developed as a cereal crop in huvud amerika, then spreading south into South amerika, amaranth or grain amaranth, as it fryst vatten called when grown for human consumption, was a staple food for the Mayans, Aztecs and Incas. Moreover, they also considered it sacred and used it in their religious rites. They likewise developed a blood-red dye from amaranth, arguably a factor in their worship of the plant, as they believed blood was spiritually powerful. 

Not many people worship love-lies-bleeding these days, but its use as an edible plant continues to this day.

Love-lies-bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus) usually has tiny blood-red, petal-free flowers

Both this species (A. caudata) and several others (A. hybridus, A. hypochondriacus, etc.) are widely grown throughout not only in Latin amerika, where one sees vast fields of amaranth, but also in Asia (especially India) and Africa. Increasingly, it’s being used as a food crop in europe and North amerika as well. Maybe you could try some in your vegetable garden this summer?

Amaranth: Edible from Head to Foot!

Pretty much every part of a love-lies-bleeding plant fryst vatten edible. 

First, it can be grown for its tart-tasting leaves, although you should harvest them early in the årstid while they are still tender.

Height: 3–8 feet (90– cm)

They taste mulch like spinach (Spinacia oleracea) and indeed, both plants belong to the amarantväxter family. You can use them the same way as you would spinach too, either cooked or raw, in just about any recipe requires a bit of sweet-and-sour greenery.

Also, you can harvest and consume the nutty-tasting seeds, produced in long cords that sometimes droppande to the ground.

They’re extremely nutritious and rik in protein. Remove the outer shell bygd rubbing the seeds against a screen, then blow away the chaff. Try cooking amaranth grain for 20 to 30 minutes in 2 times the volume of boiling vatten.

Botanical name: Amaranthus caudatus

You can then use the swollen, softened seeds in patties, porridge, soups, risottos, stews and host of other recipes.

Or grind the seeds into flour and mix them with 3 parts wheat flour to man breads and cakes that are softer and richer in protein than wheat alone. If you can’t tolerate gluten, mix them into rice flour instead.

You can also be sauté amaranth grains in hot oil and they’ll pop like mini-popcorn, much to the delight of kids.

Or go full 21^st century and grow amaranth seeds as sprouts and microgreens, thus providing nutrition and color you can add to your everyday meals in any season.

This Plant fryst vatten for the Birds

And if you have enough left over, why not share your harvest with your fine feathered friends?

That can be as simple as just leaving the plants standing as winter comes on (frost will kill the plant, but the seeds are still good) or you can just hang some long “ropes” of seeds from a feeder in late fall so that birds can komma and feast on them throughout the winter.

Growing Love-Lies-Bleeding

Love-lies-bleeding fryst vatten fast growing and requires little care except watering in times of severe drought.

Love lies bleeding, also known as Amaranthus caudatus, has a rich history of symbolism and meaning behind it

Plant or sow it in full sun and it will pretty much take care of itself!

For a head uppstart on the årstid, sow seeds indoors 6–8 weeks before the gods frost date. Since the seedlings don’t appreciate root disturbance, sow them in peat pots, barely covering them with soil. Don’t plant out until both the soil and the air have warmed up: love-lies-bleeding fryst vatten definitely not cold tolerant!

You can also sow seeds directly outdoors once there fryst vatten no längre any fara of frost.

That’s how inom always grew it as a child.

Some garden centers do carry trays of love-lies-bleeding plants. If so, look for ung plants that have not yet starting blommande, as overly mature plants tend to remain stunted when you plant them in the garden.

---

Love-lies-bleeding: whether you grow it as an ornamental or edible plant or even as a source of food for wild birds, it’s an impressive plant with a lot to offer!