Quinoa, Brightest Brilliant

Gorgeous grains. I grow cut flowers so thought I'd live these a try as ornamentals, leaving some in the field to harvest as grain. The colors are startlingly bright, very fall-like. The only fairly minor problem is the plants are lodging, I'm cutting as they fall, but not sure how many will be able to support the heavy seed heads all the way to maturity. I'd like to know how late in the season I can plant these and still get them to flower and set seed, since it's a little early (Sept. 3) for fall colors for my market. I believe I planted in late April here in the Pacific Northwest. If anyone knows whether this variety will thrive if planted as late as June, please post here.

I LOVE this quinoa. It's easy to grow, even with this hot, dry summer we've been having. The colors are gorgeous! I haven't harvested any yet, but the flower heads are loaded! I agree with the other review - when the plants are young and just starting to set flowers, aphids will come in droves. Just be diligent about spraying them off with water every day. After a few weeks, they seem to go away. My plants are easily reaching 5-6 ft tall, and still growing. They are very top heavy, and I've had to tie some to sticks to keep them upright. Will update on the harvest when it gets here.

Have yet to eat the seeds as they are still growing but have enjoyed the leaves added to salads and tossed into hot pasta as I would with spinach all summer. These plants are roughly 5' on average with the tallest reaching almost 7'. Full of buds and just waiting for them to bloom. Only downsides are that aphids seem to be a huge fan of them and that once they reach 4' and begin developing heavy buds some plants will bend and snap in half in strong winds or rain storms.