Giant amaranth from second story window

Again just bloomin huge! Excellent. :-)

The most important thing to growing tall plants is to find the variety that grows the tallest. Most of your work is doing research on the type of plant you are trying to get tall. You wouldn't believe how many types of amaranth there are, but the absolute largest is the giant amaranth (Amaranthus australis). There are some other amaranth that can get very tall as well, a close relative the tidalmarsh amaranth (Amaranthus cannabinus). There is another amaranth I found from Zambia that I almost have to 20 ft this year (but generally abour 13-14 ft.) which is a Amaranthus Hybridus. There are some others from South America that can get quite large. An amaranth that does well in my area, may not do well in yours. You have to experiment and see what does best for your soil type, climate, etc.

Thank you for the info. I would have to have a fast grower, warm and nice, but one 90 days of growing. I do see some 10 ft sunflowers so maybe I could get some big amaranthus as well.

This type of amaranth grows slower than sunflowers, especially when they are young. They stay in the seedling stage for what seems like forever. Once they get going then they blast off, but it takes time. The seed is the size of a fine pepper grain. Seedling is extremely small when they emerge from the soil. Just to get to the point of being the size of sunflower seedling takes a long while. You would have to start it indoors in the winter to have a chance at anything large. My personal best is 21 feet direct sown in New Jersey.

Good tip. I've been planning amaranth and now I know to get at it early. So much more fulfilling to get my own going. Those at the greenhouse like love-lies-bleeding are about two ft when they sell them in May.