Kochia
Goosefoot family
Chenopodiaceae
Ko'ki-a. Eighty species, chiefly Eurasian, one widely cultivated and valued for its bushy, brilliantly colored foliage.
Description
Leaves alternate and narrow. Flowers small, solitary or clustered, growing in leaf axils.
How to Grow
The species below is difficult to transplant except in peat pots or as small seedlings. Where summers are long, sow outdoors after danger of frost is past. For short-season gardens, start seeds indoors 8 weeks before last frost. Grow in full sun. Prefers warm weather.
Kochia scoparia var. tricophylla
Summer Cypress
;
Burning Bush
;
Belvedere
;
Firebush
. 2-5 ft. (0.6-1.5 m) high, bushy, sometimes nearly globe-shaped. Leaves extremely numerous, alternate, often hairy, very narrow, red, green, or yellow, turning purple-red in the fall. Flowers greenish, inconspicuous. S. Europe to Japan. Maintains leaf color all summer. Self-sows in the South and is apt to become weedy. Causes hay fever. Half-hardy annual.
