Tuesday 25 August 2015

Growing Cockscomb In My Garden

When I expressed my liking for this flower and expressed my wish to plant it in my garden, my friend grabbed hold of a dried comb, plucked it off from the plant and gave it to me. When I reached home, I removed the tiny black seeds from the dried comb. I just gave the dried comb a light shake and many tiny black seeds dropped off from it.
I sprinkled some the tiny black seeds onto the soil in a small container. And I added a few centimeters of soil to cover the seeds. Then I lightly watered the soil and kept it in partial shade, keeping the soil moist until the seeds sprouted.
Some of the common names of this flower are Cockscomb, Red Cockscomb and Crested Celosia, etc. Its scientific name is Celosia Cristata.
Cockscomb flower looks like the rooster's or cock's comb or crest on its head.
The cockscomb flowers come in many shapes, sizes and various striking colours of red, golden yellow, pink, orange, purple and etc.
Here, the baby plants are ready to be transferred to a bigger pot. Cockscomb is very easy to propagate through seeds, easy to grow and maintain.
I planted them deeper into the soil for the roots to be anchored firmly in the soil.
Later, I removed the smaller plants and let the bigger and healthier plants remained in the pot.
The plants are getting bigger and they all looked so healthy that I had a hard time deciding which to discard. Finally, I managed to remove the smaller ones and left behind 4 bigger ones in the pot.
Took this picture during a hot, sunny day.
Every morning when I watered my plants, I would peek to see if there was any sign of the comb. One morning, I saw something pinkish like this and my heart leaped for joy!
 Cockscomb loves the sun. Can be under full sun or in partial shade.
 It is also drought resistant. If it is too dry, the leaves will droop. But once it is watered, the leaves will be restored to its full freshness.
If it is exposed to full sun, the plant will grow taller.
It can grow to about 3 to 4 feet or even taller.
With regular fertilizing, the plant will grow healthy and have bigger comb.
It grows well in rich and moist garden soil with good water drainage.
 It is not a woody plant. It is quite disease resistant but can be attacked by fungal disease and mealy bugs. Cockscomb is usually grown as ornamental plant. The flower or comb can last for many weeks.
Medicinal Uses:
  • The seeds are used to treat retinal degeneration, blurred vision, cataracts, bloodshot eyes.
  • The flowers or comb are used to treat uterine bleeding, bloody stool, bleeding hemorrhoids, to control diarrhea.
  • The pulp of leaves and stalks are used as dressings for boils, sores, wounds.
  • Whole plant are used for cough, excessive menstrual flow, intestinal bleeding, intestinal worms, hemorrhoids, urinary tract infection, painful urination, mouth sores, redness of eyes, lower blood pressure, headache, etc.
  • Tender leaves and shoots are used as vegetable.

Use these herbs with caution. For uses and dosage, please refer to traditional sifu or professional herbalist. 
One morning, an uninvited guest came to visit the Cockscomb plant.
It landed on a leaf, almost went unnoticed. I have not seen this visitor before and I was curious. I stood and watch and this visitor was too engrossed with its organic meal to notice me.
It went about doing its business. It started to feed on the leaf. From a tiny hole, the hole started to grow bigger. I took a pincer and took hold of it and threw it out of my garden. Hope it will go elsewhere and not return.
This is a dried cockscomb. The tiny black seeds will easily fall out just by brushing against or shaking the dried cockscomb.
Cockscomb of different shapes and sizes.
Be obedient to God, and do not allow your lives to be shaped
by those desires you had when you were still ignorant.
Instead, be holy in all that you do,
just as God who called you is holy.
(1 Peter 1:14-15, GNT)

37 comments:

  1. I have always thought coxcomb is so pretty, but only tried to have some once with no luck. I need to try them again.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Rose, it is very pretty and so its worth trying until you succeed!

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  2. Beautiful, love the vibrant colour.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Mamas. The colour is really vibrant!

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  3. Nancy is my dream to have one in my garden

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    Replies
    1. Hi Gosia, I hope your dream will come through soon!

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  4. Lovely images and a beautiful plant. I love the color and the fuzzy looking bloom! Have a happy day!

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  5. How fun to start some nice flowering plant from seed and watch them bloom. They are beautiful.
    This year I successfully started to grow Heliotropes and Gerbera Daisies. They are so beautiful and in bloom and I feel good about it.
    Hugs,
    JB

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    Replies
    1. Hi Julia, I have always admire those beautiful blooms that you have in your garden and which we can't grow over here. Have a beautiful day!

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  6. Cockscomb looks like coral reef at 1st glance. So beautiful & I love the vibrant colour! Beautiful pictures ^-^!

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    1. Thank you, Karen. Actually it is a very common flowers but I love the vibrant colour!

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  7. I like this flower too especially the deep red ones.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Mun, I am now growing the second batch in my garden.

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  8. First, great shots. Wow. Second, I've never seen this plant before. It sure is beautiful.

    I love your garden.

    Have a fabulous day Nancy. ☺

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Sandee. This plant is very common over here.

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  9. Lovely celosia! Tom The Backroads Traveller

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  10. What a beautiful plant and it's so fantastic watching it growing thanks to your excelente shots.

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  11. Love this beautiful flowers & my friend has the yellow ones. It does resemble the cock's comb. Your garden is filled with lots of beautiful plants.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Irene. I would love to add more colours to my garden.

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  12. Replies
    1. Hi Sharon, it not surprising because this is quite a common flower.

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  13. This is a gorgeous looking plant. I sure am learning a lot from your blog, Nancy. Thank you. :D

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    1. Thank you, Sharon. I am glad to share what I myself have learned.

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  14. Nancy, I am not much of a Cockscomb fan but I do remember this flower from a movie called Greenfingers. It's a nice movie starring Helen Mirren. In one scene, she was showing the Cockscomb flowers to some visitors and she told them in a haughty voice "This is the Cockscomb. It reminds me of my ex-husband". hah..hah...

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    Replies
    1. Phong Hong, you really have good memory. Wow! You can even remember the words uttered by the actress! Cock's comb reminds me of the pride in males' masculinity.

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  15. This is such an usual-looking flower. Some more all the seeds reside in it hehe.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Stacy, from one comb, there are lots & lots of tiny black seeds!

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