Summer Celosia Gardens

Celosia makes high design easy with colorful feathery tops

For a jolt of vibrant color to get the summer going, add Celosia to your work. Feathery heads of red, orange, and yellow fire up the landscape and take control of the texture aspect—honestly, a stand of these curious creatures is a thriller all on its own. It’s easy to see these landscapes as very, very large combo designs.

Celosia can create waves of color within a single textured look

When planting celosia, we are especially fond of the flames found in the Fresh Look series. With the Fresh Looks, the brilliant plumes never fade—they’re bigger and brighter than other Celosia and they constantly look fresh because new flowers and leaves emerge around the old ones. Orange or yellow can be used separately as well for a dense, eye-catching sweep of solid color. 

Upward sweeps of Celosia meet this downward sweep of Petunias

If drama is what you’re after, ‘New Look Red’ brings it with dark burgundy-bronze foliage and intense scarlet red flowers. These plumes retain their color for a long time as well, and the foliage becomes even redder with more sun. It’s striking planted en masse with the glowing red flames radiating out of the mysterious deep, dark foliage, although we have seen stranger things…

An island planting of mixed Celosia

Larger Celosia varieties work well in structured gardens with strong edges. They are neat and tidy plants that don’t ramble or shamble across the ground. As a result, they’re good for building out more formal designs—they take a large area and focus attention onto a centerpiece or central display.

Celosia pairs up with Zinnias, especially if they have a touch of red

Celosia remains popular for summer combinations, particularly in pots and bowls, because the plants behave nicely and stay in their own space. Their flowers go up and their leaves go down to create strong vertical interest. Sometimes we add an ornamental grass to play up the vertical and add a tropical touch for summertime.

This trial garden shows the beauty of a single color stand of Celosia

While the temperature climbs over the next couple of months, Celosia will keep looking fresh, and that’s quite an accomplishment in Cincinnati this time of year.

‘Fresh Look Orange’, ‘Fresh Look Yellow’, and Fresh Look Mix are available in the 8-inch pot. ‘New Look Red’ and ‘Intenz’ come in the 8-inch size as well.

Celosia makes nice specimen plantings, too—it has a tidy habit