Last summer I tried a celosia called ‘Kurume Corona’. The curly flowers were quite striking, but the plants drove me nuts. They were supposed to grow 30 to 45 inches tall, so I put them in the back row of several of my flowerbeds and anxiously waited for them to strut their stuff. It never happened. By mid-summer I had to wade into my flowerbeds just to find them. The tallest one reached 12 inches.
I didn’t bother growing them this year, but they weren’t quite ready to say goodbye. In late July, I noticed a celosia was coming up from seed in the very front row of one of my flowerbeds. I assumed it was a ‘New Look’ celosia which I’ve grown for years. But ‘New Look’ grows 15 inches tall and this seedling just kept getting taller and taller:
It wasn’t until the twisty bloom appeared that I realized I had an overachieving ‘Kurume Corona’ on my hands.
The blooms are photogenic, but the plants themselves are rather lanky and unattractive. If this one wants to self-seed in my garden and surprise me again next year I won’t complain, but I’m not thrilled enough with ‘Kurume Corona’ to grow it again from seed.