Arrabona Red Celosia Seeds

Bushy, Bright, and SO Long-blooming!
Great branching means more blooms than ever
Genus: Celosia
Species: plumosa
Variety: ‘Arrabona Red’
Item Form: (P) Pkt of 20 seeds
Bloom Start To End: Mid Summer – Mid Fall
Habit: Compact
Seeds Per Pack: 20
Plant Height: 10 in – 14 in
Plant Width: 10 in – 15 in
Additional Characteristics: Award Winner, Bloom First Year, Butterfly Lovers, Direct Sow, Easy Care Plants, Flower, Free Bloomer, Long Bloomers
Bloom Color: Orange, Red
Foliage Color: Olive Green
Light Requirements: Full Sun
Moisture Requirements: Moist,  well-drained
Resistance: Drought Tolerant, Heat Tolerant
Soil Tolerance: Normal,  loamy
Uses: Beds, Containers, Cut Flowers, Outdoor

Brilliant orange-red plumes cluster tightly above bright olive-green foliage on this award-winning beauty! Boasting excellent branching, a super-long season of bloom (extending into October in mild and warm climates!), and nice uniformity, Arrabona is the heat-loving, drought-tolerant annual you MUST try this year!

Bred in Budapest and named for an ancient Hungarian city, Arrabona is technically an intermediate-sized Celosia, though its compact, dense habit is a bit wider than you might expect. The first of its kind to really flower heavily on side-shoots, it sets massive flames of brightest scarlet with a hint of orange. Expect the blooms to begin in midsummer from a spring sowing, and to continue well into fall.

Arrabona stands just 10 to 14 inches high and up to 15 inches wide. It craves sunshine and heat, thriving in semi-tropical climates as effortlessly as it does in milder areas. Very tolerant of drought, it’s the type of plant you can fearlessly grow in containers right through the worst summer heat. But it also looks terrific in a large garden planting, as an accent, and even as knock-em-dead edging!

Celosia walked off with top honors at the 2014 Fleuroselect Awards in Europe, and it’s easy to see why. The seed has a higher germination rate than older varieties, and the color is a new — and blindingly bright! — shade for the family. Best of all, you can grow a large planting of Arrabona and expect all the plants to reach almost exactly the same height and width. They will bloom at the same time, too. This uniformity makes them superb for formal settings and the wildly diverse annual bed as well!

Like most Celosia, Arrabona prefers to be direct-sown, and once it has germinated, it would rather not be moved. Sow the seed outdoors well after all danger of frost has passed, setting it just 1/8-inch deep and covering lightly. It should sprout in 5 to 7 days. Thin the plants to about 8 inches apart for dense, leaf-to-leaf coverage. They should be blooming by mid-July from a May sowing.

If you prefer to begin them indoors, here’s how: Sow them at 75 to 80 degrees F, 1/8-inch deep and covered lightly. After germination, grow on at 70 degrees F, and bottom-water with lukewarm water to avoid chills. The seedlings are usually ready to transplant in just 3 weeks. When you set them outdoors, protect them from direct sun for about a week while they acclimatize.

Bred by master plantsman Dr. Zoltan Kovats at the Research Institute of Budapest, Arrabona Red is a breakthrough in color, branching, and flowering ability. We can’t wait to grow it again in our trials this season, and we hope it will be a big part of your annual bed, too! Packet is 20 seeds.