Gomphrena globosa, globe amaranth, bachelor’s buttons.
I like the last of those names best but while I understand where ‘buttons’ come from, I can’t figure out the ‘bachelor’s’ bit.
The gomphrena was one of the first plants I could grow successfully as a kid, and I’ve never grown tired of its button-like flowers all these years.
Gomphrenas come in purple, pink and white. All three are lovely and grown together, they are even more so.
I can’t decide which I prefer; the vividness of the purple, the subtley of the pink or the purity of the white.
When in doubt, I’d plant all three. 😀
And then some time ago, I found strawberry colored ones. ‘Strawberry Fields’ comes in a delicious strawberry tone, just as its name suggests.
The flowers are sparser than their more robust siblings, but they look good enough to eat.
But I’m glad the other three just bloom their heads off. I could cut handfuls of their cheery flower heads and still have lots to spare.
Gomphrena flower heads are added to teas and is said to cleanse and detoxify, stop coughing, relieve tension and stress, and nourish the skin too.
I’ve never tried using those from the garden for this purpose but with all those health benefits, maybe I should try making a gomphrena infusion too.
And maybe it’s not just the flowers that can be used. The birds help themselves each time the flowers set seed, having what seems like a raucous seed party. I wonder if that means the seeds are edible for us too? 😉
Care and propagation: not fussy about soil; full sun; water moderately; propagate using seeds (self-seeds easily)
Beautiful! What a wonderful collection of Gomphrena. I like all the colours.
thanks, stephanie!
How I wish I have so many blooms in my garden! Your garden looks splendid!
thanks, JC. it has its ups and downs. right now it’s begging for more attention since i’ve been quite distracted by CPs lately. 😛
FYI, Bachelor’s Button is the accepted common name of Centaurea cyanus, NOT Gomphrena globosa.
looks like it’s the common name for both.
Nice blog and garden you have there! I recently gotten a pot of gromphena, may I ask will flowers grow again after the present ones have wilted? And should I prune it down to encourage new growth. Thanks so much!
Hi Serene. This is an annual so you need to collect the seeds to start a new batch of plants. Pruning it at an earlier stage will encourage a bushier habit.