Gomphrena, or globe amaranth, is a mesmerizing flower adored by people and pollinators alike. These ultra-resilient blooming annuals or tender perennials thrive in full daylight and tolerate sizzling, humid circumstances with out fear. Whereas gomphrena is a member of the Amaranthaceae household, it bears little resemblance to the a lot bigger, seedy spikes of its amaranth cousins.
The distinctive spherical blooms are available in an incredible variety of colours, including allure and kooky kind to frame beds, containers, and floral preparations. The papery flowers are perfect for dried preparations and crafts as a result of they keep their colour and form after harvesting.
Let’s dig into 19 enchanting styles of gomphrena in your reduce flower backyard or pollinator patch!
What’s Gomphrena?
Globe amaranth, also referred to as gomphrena, is a frost-tender perennial or annual flower. The rainbow hues of early summer time ball-shaped flowers are beautiful in recent or dried floral preparations. The spherical blooms comprise many tiny papery bracts, yielding a singular texture and gumdrop form good for crafting or decorative pollinator patches.
Vegetation take a mean of 40-60 days to bloom from seed and don’t thoughts sizzling, humid climate. They develop two to 4 toes tall and thrive in full daylight. Globe amaranth provides bursts of colour and kind to frame beds and enormous containers. Butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees adore gomphrena and repeatedly hover over the showy, vibrant globes.
19 Greatest Styles of Globe Amaranth
This genus consists of dozens of cultivars that come from the 2 foremost species of gomphrena:
- Gomphrena globosa: This compact tropical annual from Central America is a lower-growing species with fuzzy foliage.
- Gomphrena haageana: A young perennial wildflower native to North America, this globe amaranth is taller and has giant, brightly-colored bracts. It’s a perennial in zones September 11.
On the whole, globosa varieties are finest for small areas, whereas haageana varieties are perfect for giant floral panorama plantings. Listed here are 19 of essentially the most dazzling styles of gomphrena:
High Choose: ‘QIS Fiery Dawn Mix’
If you happen to can’t fairly select a single colour, this mix has all of the sunrise-inspired hues you want for placing preparations. The showy, vibrant globes of this haageana selection emerge from 24-26” tall vegetation in rounded clusters of peach, fuschia, and pink.
This gomphrena hardly flinches throughout excessive warmth or lengthy droughts and flowers nearly constantly all through the summer time. Native to New Mexico, Texas, and northern Mexico, the ‘Fiery Dawn Mix’ grows significantly nicely in southern gardens. It stays perennial in zones September 11 however typically grows as an annual reduce flower in northern gardens.
‘QIS Carmine’
The extreme crimson colour of ‘Carmine’ offers a charming distinction to brighter flower colours in borders or containers. This compact selection blooms prolifically all summer time lengthy with richly coloured round blossoms. The hue of the petals and bracts is constant all through the season and after harvesting, making them good for dried floral shows. ‘QIS Carmine’ is low upkeep and glorious for novices.
The QIS sequence of gomphrena stands for High quality in Seed. These cultivars are bred for further hardy vegetation for reduce flower growers. You technically can not save and resell seeds from these trademarked varieties.
‘QIS Orange’
If you happen to love oranges, that is the very best gomphrena selection for you! The burst of heat and vivid orange makes this cultivar a pleasant complement to extra intense reds and pinks. A basic haageana selection, ‘QIS Orange’ is pretty tall and produces lengthy stems. The blooms are about one and a half inches in diameter and reliably flower in even the hardest circumstances. They’re significantly uniform and retain their colour for eternal bouquets.
‘QIS Orange’ takes roughly 85-100 days to mature from seed, however you can begin early by seeding in cell flats six to eight weeks earlier than your final frost. No pinching or help is important for these extremely branched vegetation.
‘QIS Pink’
With its charming romance and softness, this delicate pink gomphrena is directly cute and chic. It seems dazzling in a pastel-hued mattress of whites and purples. The blush pink blooms have accents of creamy white of their facilities and bracts.
Like different globosa varieties, this frost-tender annual is extremely drought-tolerant and produces its elegant flowers even amidst excessive warmth. The vegetation develop 18-28” and might slot in bigger containers. They thrive in full daylight and require spacing round six to eight inches between vegetation. Harvest the medium-length stems and bundle them collectively for an cute pink pompom form of recent or dried blooms.
‘QIS Lilac’
Pastel purple globe amaranth flowers add a tranquil hue to decorative beds and pollinator patches. This soothing, lilac-colored gomphrena is romantic and well-suited to cottage gardens. When planted en masse, it makes a dreamy border alongside white and blush pink varieties.
However despite its delicate colour, ‘QIS Lilac’ gomphrena is simply as adaptable and resilient as different varieties. Wider spacing of eight to 10 inches ensures that the 24-26” tall branched vegetation can develop to their full glory.
‘Fireworks’
If you’ll want to fill a bigger area with gumdrop-shaped flowers on tall stems, ‘Fireworks’ gomphrena is a showstopping low-maintenance annual with giant clumps averaging two to 3 toes throughout. This cottage backyard basic options attractive tufts of iridescent sizzling pink flowers with sprinkles of vibrant yellow. The lengthy stems are good for chopping and drying.
‘Fireworks’ was launched in 2009 by Ball Horticulture and has change into more and more common for architectural floral landscaping. The pollinator-attracting blossoms hover very excessive above the basal foliage, setting this selection aside from different gomphrenas.
The neon-yellow stamens protrude from sizzling pink flower bracts, giving the looks of a joyous fireworks show. It has a multi-dimensional behavior that appears gorgeous in giant plantings on the borders of your backyard.
‘Lavender Girl’
For a uncommon gomphrena selection, strive sowing ‘Lavender Girl’ for its sleek lavender-colored globes. This eternal flower is nearly carefree. It’s warmth and drought-tolerant, offering cute clover-shaped purple blooms for many of the frost-free rising season. You should use the flowers for dried bouquets, flower crowns, or floral chains to brighten up your winter decor.
This compact globosa selection stays beneath two toes tall and is a greater choice for small areas and containers than the bigger varieties. Nonetheless, it’s best to present vegetation with no less than ten inches of area. The heat-loving seeds germinate finest in soil temperatures between 70-80°F (21-27°C) and take 5-14 days to sprout.
‘Strawberry Fields’
The aptly named ‘Strawberry Fields’ gomphrena is identified for its strawberry-red blooms that intently resemble the long-lasting ripe berries. The medley of reds and pinks provides vibrant sweetness to preparations, borders, and containers.
This selection is compact and bushy, with long-lasting blooms that carry colour all through the summer time and keep their cheery strawberry colour into the autumn and winter in eternal bouquets.
Plant in essentially the most sun-drenched location space and watch these vivid flowers bloom with little to no effort. The sturdy 16-18” lengthy stems present the proper basis for the berry-themed flowers. This selection is especially gorgeous when grown en masse and sprinkled with a pink or white gomphrena so as to add distinction and dimension.
‘Audray White’
This timeless gomphrena has been cultivated in cottage gardens for hundreds of years. The pristine white blooms are vibrant and pure, with out a lot creaminess. ‘Audray White’ provides a serene environment to your pollinator patch or a chic contact to a bridal bouquet.
The low-maintenance vegetation are compact and uniform, making them common for entrance yard edging and marriage ceremony design work. I particularly love the durability and depth of the white button-shaped blossoms, making them simple to work with when crafting.
‘Audray Pink’
This clover-pink selection is very uniform and ideally suited for mass plantings or orderly borders the place you desire a refined panorama aesthetic. The flowers are extra of a cool lavender hue and bloom on elongated stems for chopping. ‘Audray Pink’ is a well-liked bedding plant selection for landscapers and does nicely in containers.
The upright development helps itself with out the necessity for staking. Like most of the different pink varieties, this gomphrena is splattered with yellow accents within the stamens and generally the flower bracts.
‘Audray Purple-Pink’
The identify says all of it! This globe amaranth flowers in a singular shade someplace between fuschia purple and crimson pink. The vegetation are just like ‘QIS Purple’ and produce equally as abundantly, however they flower later and develop taller. If you happen to love long-stemmed preparations of vibrant colours, that is the cultivar for you!
At 95-110 days to maturity, the ‘Audray’ sequence of gomphrena requires a bit extra persistence than others. The vegetation want extended frost-free climate and profit from a headstart in early spring for those who reside in a colder local weather.
Direct seeding isn’t advisable in northern zones as a result of these varieties are further delicate to chilly. Don’t overlook to harden off the transplants in a protected space for a couple of week earlier than you progress them exterior into the backyard.
‘Audray Combine’
The quintessential globe amaranth mix, this combine is iconic for reduce flower growers! The various hues embrace fuschia, pastel pink, pure white, and light-weight purple flowers with white facilities. The tall vegetation develop to 18-28” and produce one and a half inch blooms atop extra-long stems.
This mixes flowers later within the season than another varieties, however is extremely uniform and intensely productive. The pink-hued gumdrop flowers resemble a mass of Valentines-worthy buttons. Dry and save the blooms for eternal bouquets to make use of in early spring at love-themed occasions.
‘Audray Combine’ is a seed mix together with most of the particular person varieties described above, comparable to ‘Audray White,’ ‘Bicolor Rose,’ ‘Audray Pink,’ and ‘Audray Purple Pink.’ A pre-mixed batch is right for rising complementary colours within the backyard, the place you don’t wish to fear about awkward clumps of mismatched hues.
‘Raspberry Cream’
Pinkish-raspberry and creamy-white blossoms add a placing colour palette of distinction and playfulness. ‘Raspberry Cream’ gomphrena is compact and ideally suited for blended plantings or patio containers.
The wealthy colour of pink is sort of as engaging as raspberry ice cream, and the extra-long stems create attractive bouquet bundles. When the daylight hits them good, ‘Raspberry Cream’ flowers glimmer and glow in a panoramic wealthy pink hue.
‘Ping Pong’
This globosa selection is the proper compact annual for smaller yards. The attention-catching purple is deep and wealthy, providing an explosion of playful colour infused with ball-shaped flowers. Like most globe amaranth varieties, the vegetation are amazingly drought-tolerant and don’t ask for any upkeep throughout the rising season. Mass plantings create a wonderful wildflower patch that may attract bees and butterflies from close to and much.
‘Buddy Purple’
One other globosa sort, this cultivar is further showy and tolerant of just about any soil so long as it’s well-drained. ‘Buddy Purple’ flowers resemble ultra-bright clover blossoms with wealthy violet bracts. The Buddy sequence is bred for a dwarfed, mounding behavior that grows slightly below one foot tall and broad, making them ideally suited for containers, patios, rock gardens, and low-growing bedding vegetation.
Nevertheless, keep away from rising ‘Buddy Purple’ if you wish to harvest gomphrena for bouquets. The stout vegetation don’t have the basic elongated stems of different varieties. As a substitute, the Buddy sequence has been bred for shorter stems that thrive finest in decorative borders.
‘Las Vegas Combine’
This festive mix of globe amaranth consists of many shades of purple, pink, and white. Its eye-catching rainbow provides a touch of celebration to the backyard. These carefree versatile vegetation are mid-sized, averaging 18” tall and 18-24” broad. They’re nice for rising in containers or border beds alongside marigolds, petunias, and celosias.
Broadcast giant handfuls of ‘Las Vegas Combine’ right into a meadow backyard for a quick-growing splash of colour. Drought-tolerant wildflowers like echinacea (coneflower), black-eyed Susan, coreopsis, yarrow, and blanketflowers can be nice companions. These vegetation bloom in lower than three months after seeding, however they can’t be planted till the climate is reliably frost-free.
‘Aurea’
This uncommon haageana cultivar has fairly apricot-colored button flowers that generally embrace shades of gold, yellow, and orange. ‘Aurea’ is pretty compact for a haageana however nonetheless wants 9-12” of area between vegetation. It has an upright behavior with properly branched stems.
The wildflower equal of this selection is commonly known as Rio Grande globe amaranth as a result of its prevalence in south Texas and northern Mexico. The native vary of this gomphrena is a testomony to its drought resilience and warmth tolerance. Supplementary irrigation is barely vital within the longest durations of summer time drought.
‘Gnome Purple’
The Gnome sequence of globe amaranth is bred for long-lasting colour and further dwarf development. These little vegetation develop a most of 10-12” tall and broad. They’re good for full-sun borders and blended containers. ‘Gnome Purple’ is charmingly violet-hued with good little balls-shaped flowers. It has further darkish inexperienced foliage for a pleasant contrasted backdrop.
‘Gnome Combine’
You probably have a small backyard but crave a burst of low-maintenance colour, ‘Gnome Combine’ is the very best choice. This mix of whites, purples, and pinks is the lowest-growing globe amaranth in the marketplace. This dwarf annual boasts profusions of flowers all summer time lengthy, magnetizing bees and butterflies.
The vegetation are simply as heat-tolerant as their family members however gained’t develop to giant heights. In chilly climates, make sure to begin seeds indoors six to eight weeks earlier than your anticipated final frost.
FAQs
Most gomphrenas are tender perennials grown as annuals. They solely return yearly in zones September 11. Nevertheless, some vegetation will self-seed. These frost-sensitive flowers are extraordinarily simple to develop and profit from a headstart indoors in colder climates.
The colourful globe-shaped flowers of gomphrena reliably grace your backyard all summer time lengthy. Most varieties take 80-100 days to mature and flower till the primary frost of fall. The colourful colours and cute button shapes supply placing variety and dimension. For extra compact vegetation, select cultivars of G. globosa, however for longer cut-flower stems, develop G. haageana varieties.
The 2 foremost forms of globe amaranth are Gomphrena globosa and Gomphrena haageana. Globosa varieties are warm-weather annuals with extra compact development. Haageana varieties are tender perennials with taller development and elongated stems, however they’re solely perennial in zones September 11. Many northern flower growers will develop a number of cultivars of each species all through the summer time.
You probably have a small rising area or decorative beds, select globosa varieties. If you wish to fill a bigger area and harvest lengthy stems for bouquets, prioritize haageana cultivars.
Closing Ideas
Gomphrena is a real backyard workhorse, providing tons of of pleasant button-shaped flowers with little to no upkeep. With the entire varieties out there, there may be positive to be a gomphrena proper in your backyard. In order for you lengthy stems for bouquets and preparations, choose from the QIS or Audray sequence. However for those who favor compact, dwarf vegetation, try the Gnome or Buddy sequence of gomphrena.