Amaranthus plant has been grown for thousands of years as a food crop in Mexico from the Aztec. When Spain’s Cortez arrived, he burnt the fields as punishment. Mexico is reviving the crop as a staple food source. Also called summer Poinsettia because of some variety’s colorful foliage. The plant is related to the weed: pigweed. The Hopi use the dye from the red seeded plants for their clothing and bread.

The moral of the story is you can smash old relics of civilizations, but the history of plants can not be done away with.

These plants come in heights from 1 to 8 feet with different colored foliage and seed heads. While rarely found in greenhouses, the seeds are in many catalogs. Easy to start from seeds 8 weeks before transplanting them to the flower bed. Amaranthus does not flinch at heat or drought. After that, seedlings will come back in the following years.

This plant grows slowly in the cool spring, however, will shoot up unbelievably when summer comes. The colorful seed heads can be cut and dried for dried flower arrangements.

In the Caribbean, they steam the leaves on most plants as a spinach substitute. Mostly they are used as grains.

The African Daisy or Cape Marigold are commonly called by their fancy name “Osteospermum”. You commonly find these plants in the greenhouses coming mainly in yellow and purple but many colors in between. They make for great plants in containers. You must dead head these to keep them flowering all summer long.

This white one I grew from seed is a “wilder form” which should be hardier to wind and heat. The white bloom and shiny purple center are reminiscent of the true roots of this plant. The flower open on sunny days and close on cloudy days or at night. The newer varieties stay open more.

Whether grown in a container or ground, African Daisy needs a little water and some fertilizer and that is all. Too much water creates leggy, weak plants.

The plants where brought to Europe and America in the 19^th century.