Cock’s comb will add vivid color and long bloom time to your garden with little effort on your part. Growing 6-30″ tall, plants produce feathery spikes that are 4-12″ long and a bright orange, scarlet or yellow. The flowers start blooming as soon as temperatures are warm and continue all summer adding color, upright form, and a soft texture to the garden when many other plants are mounds of round, many-petaled flowers or not blooming at all. The plants love heat but struggle in rain and humidity. They are an excellent choice for beds, borders and the flowers are good in the vase either fresh or dried. Cultivars are available that vary most significantly in plant height, length of flowering spike, flower color, and leaf color.
Type: Tender perennial usually grown as an annual
Height: 6-30″
Bloom Color: Yellow, orange, red, pink, or purple flowers in summer for a long bloom time.
Bloom Time: All summer
Light: Full sun.
Soil: Fertile, moderately moist, well drained but tolerate lean, dry soil.
Hardiness: Zones 10-11
Karen Meyers