'Sokoyokoto' Lagos Spinach (Edible Celosia)

Celosia argentea

Origin: Nigeria

Improvement status: Cultivar

Seeds per packet: ~200

Germination tested 08/2024: 66%

Life cycle: Annual

We're very glad to be offering this lovely edible celosia from West Africa, one of the most beautiful greens you can grow and much sought after in the African diaspora. We got these seeds from our friend Edmund Frost, who describes it this way:

"A great source of summer greens, and the most popular plant for cooked greens in Nigeria. We got this seedstock from Rushdat Hale [of Lexington, South Carolina], who brought them from Nigeria. The cooked greens have a taste and texture similar to spinach, and they grow well for us [in central Virginia] with no pest or disease pressure. Consider planting successions. If you let them grow all season the plants develop pink and tan flowers and can grow up to about six feet tall. Use caution as these often will self-sow."

GROWING TIPS: Easy to direct seed. Start after all danger of frost has passed.