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Celosia blooms naturally dry out as they get older. Florists dry celosia and then spray it with a Florist's spray paint that is quite natural looking and gives the blooms back that beautiful burgundy color.
I have a few of these in the garden but they dry out, is it getting to much sun? should I leave it inside also?
Their colors are magenta and pink
They are generally fairly drought resistant like many plants that make good dried flowers and need full sun to grow and bloom properly. It sounds like they are either getting too much water or too little water from your description. There are diseases and bugs that can make them look wilted, like nematodes in the roots and fungi. Aphids can also cause them to look poorly.
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Originally Posted by dreamofmonterey
yes they are dry, i took it inside bcs it is faded. Thanks for any help in advance
If you took the whole plant inside you will kill it from lack of sun. The flowers do reach a state where they naturally begin to fade and produce seeds. Deadheading carefully to avoid cutting into new flower heads forming will neaten up the plant an allow more flower spikes to grow and keep the plant pretty. I had pink ones that kept going and going in my deck pots until the first frosts last year. Everyone commented on them when they saw them because of their size and unusual appearance.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cattknap
Celosia blooms naturally dry out as they get older. Florists dry celosia and then spray it with a Florist's spray paint that is quite natural looking and gives the blooms back that beautiful burgundy color.
Absolutely right! The paler colored ones sometimes need the cosmetic help but the darker purple, magenta and deep pink varieties usually are pretty fade resistant when they are cut and hung before peak bloom naturally begins the fading process. If they begin to go to seed they will loose some color no matter what you do short of painting them. The pink ones I had barely faded when I experimented with them last year and they stayed on the plant for a long time. I think the commercial places use silicon to dry them more quickly to reduce fading, rather than the old fashioned 'hang the bunches upside down in the attic' method. It will also depend on the variety and type as to how well they hold up in dried bouquets.
Actually the ****'s Comb variety of celosia (which is sometimes dark burgundy) is often dried and sprayed with floral paint before using it in arrangements. A local florist dries his own celosia and sprays it for Christmas arrangment - you would never know that it was sprayed.
I'm not sure why you seem to be disagreeing, or are we just talking passed each other? The picture from the OP is of a Celosia spicata and that is what I described. The "roosters" comb -since CD doesn't like the real name and censors it- is different, as is the third type C. plumosa which is more fluffy, but all 3 dry well. If done right usually they don't need to be colored artificially. Any kind of dried flowers are rarely intensely colored but I can see why painting them would be needed for Christmas decorations to look like a real Christmas red. The lighter pink variety I had did not change color when I picked it early but when I tried a little later if faded much more thatn it already was faded. In the picture the larger one is already fading a little in color and would not look as good as one of the smaller ones which would keep the color:
These are the same and too faded for use:
The red version of the C. cristata on the lower right in this picture is probably what your florist uses but I bet it does dim a bit with age and without "cosmetic" help.
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