I anchored one of my flower borders with amaranthus plants again this year, and they took off like a shot right away. My guess is that our surprise bout of unusually hot weather in early June gave them a big boost. Amaranthus plants love hot weather.
‘Autumn Touch’ grows 3 to 5 feet tall and prefers full sun and well-drained soil. I don’t have any full sun but the plants still thrive in part-sun. I just make sure to stake them so they don’t topple in a thunderstorm or heavy wind.
In late summer and early fall finches and sparrows like to land on the plants and eat the seeds. You can direct-sow amaranthus seeds in your garden after the threat of frost has passed in the spring. I like to sprout mine indoors about 5 weeks before planting time to give them a head start.