How to Grow Love Lies Bleeding From Seed

Love Lies Bleeding is a warm-season annual, so it wants heat and no frost. Wait until your last spring frost has passed and the soil has warmed to at least 65F before sowing outdoors, usually late spring to early summer. In short-season areas like the northern Midwest or New England, get a head start by sowing indoors 4 to 6 weeks before the last frost, then move plants out once nights stay warm. In hot, long-season regions like Texas and the South you can direct-sow straight into the garden.

The seeds are dust-fine and need light, so scatter them on the surface of warm, moist soil or seed mix and press them in gently rather than burying them. Keep the surface evenly moist at 65 to 75F and seedlings pop up in about 7 to 14 days. When plants are a few inches tall, thin or transplant them to 12 to 18 inches apart in a spot with full sun and rich, well-drained soil. Give this one room, since it grows tall and wide and makes a bold statement at the back of a border.

Once it is up and growing, Love Lies Bleeding is easygoing. Water regularly to keep the soil evenly moist, especially in summer heat, but avoid waterlogged ground. It is not a heavy feeder; a little compost worked in at planting is plenty, and too much fertilizer just makes floppy growth. In windy or very exposed spots the tall stems may need a stake. As the plant matures, the flower tassels lengthen and drape into those signature crimson ropes right into fall.

Love Lies Bleeding makes a dramatic back-of-border anchor, and it looks and grows best with sun-loving companions that draw pollinators and fill the layers beneath its tassels. These four are easy matches for the same warm, sunny bed, and you can add any of them in one click:

For fresh bouquets, cut the tassels once they are fully colored but still firm, and strip the lower leaves before arranging. To dry them, gather small bunches, tie the stems, and hang them upside down in a warm, dark, airy place for a week or two; the deep red holds well for wreaths and everlasting arrangements. Leave a tassel or two on the plant to ripen if you want to collect seed for next year.

Love Lies Bleeding is grown above all for drama. The long, rope-like crimson tassels make an unforgettable focal point at the back of a summer border and in large containers, and they are a favorite of flower arrangers both fresh and dried. As a member of the amaranth family it also has a long history as a food plant: the young leaves can be cooked like greens and the tiny seeds are edible, though most gardeners grow it purely for the show.

• Seeds not sprouting: usually cold soil or buried seed. Wait for warm soil and surface-sow, since the seeds need light.
• Floppy, leaning stems: often too much shade, wind, or over-feeding. Give full sun, space plants well, and stake tall ones in exposed spots.
• Aphids on new growth: rinse them off with water and let ladybugs and hoverflies clean up the rest.
• Surprise seedlings next year: it self-sows, so pull volunteers where you do not want them.