{"id":120922,"date":"2022-10-03T06:08:08","date_gmt":"2022-10-03T12:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=120922"},"modified":"2022-10-04T02:15:16","modified_gmt":"2022-10-04T08:15:16","slug":"last-call-for-amaranth-seeds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2022\/10\/03\/last-call-for-amaranth-seeds\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Call For Amaranth Seeds (with update)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Both this year and last year there was a lot of interest in the Amaranth I plant in my &#8216;mostly&#8217; vegetable garden for yard birds. This year I offered seeds to those readers who might want to give them a try.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"120926\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2022\/10\/03\/last-call-for-amaranth-seeds\/lesser-goldfinch-8104-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/lesser-goldfinch-8104-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,600\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;5.6&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;RON DUDLEY&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS R5&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1663342386&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;700&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;1600&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.0005&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"lesser goldfinch 8104 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/lesser-goldfinch-8104-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-120926 size-full\" title=\"lesser-goldfinch-8104-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/lesser-goldfinch-8104-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/lesser-goldfinch-8104-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/lesser-goldfinch-8104-ron-dudley-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/lesser-goldfinch-8104-ron-dudley-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/lesser-goldfinch-8104-ron-dudley-150x100.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Just prior to my back surgery I collected a bunch of seeds, dried them out and attempted to separate them from the flower chafe and today I plan on mailing them to those who requested them. If anyone&#8217;s interested I have enough seeds to fill about a half-dozen more requests.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"120924\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2022\/10\/03\/last-call-for-amaranth-seeds\/house-finch-8104-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/house-finch-8104-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;5.6&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;RON DUDLEY&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS R5&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1663340863&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;700&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;500&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.001&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"house finch 8104 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/house-finch-8104-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-120924 size-full\" title=\"house-finch-8104-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/house-finch-8104-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/house-finch-8104-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/house-finch-8104-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/house-finch-8104-ron-dudley-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/house-finch-8104-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I don&#8217;t get a lot of bird species variety in my yard and most that I do get are common but in late summer they love to feast on the Amaranth seeds. Besides providing food for birds I enjoy having around, the plants are attractive (at least in my garden) and functional in providing intermittent shade for some of my vegetables that can burn up in our summer heat.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"120925\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2022\/10\/03\/last-call-for-amaranth-seeds\/house-finch-big-crop-8104-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/house-finch-big-crop-8104-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,643\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;5.6&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;RON DUDLEY&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS R5&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1663340863&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;700&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;500&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.001&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"house finch big crop 8104 ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/house-finch-big-crop-8104-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-120925 size-full\" title=\"house-finch-big-crop-8104-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/house-finch-big-crop-8104-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/house-finch-big-crop-8104-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/house-finch-big-crop-8104-ron-dudley-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/house-finch-big-crop-8104-ron-dudley-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/house-finch-big-crop-8104-ron-dudley-150x107.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The seeds are tiny but there&#8217;s lots of them and birds love to crack them open to get at the tender embryos inside so there&#8217;s usually gobs of flower debris stuck to their bills as evidence of their enthusiasm for eating them.<\/p>\n<p>As I see it, these are the advantages and disadvantages of growing this variety of Amaranth (a variety I&#8217;m unsure of) as a yard plant for bird lovers.<\/p>\n<p>Advantages:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Seed production is immense from very tall plants (mine average 9-10&#8242;) so not many plants are required.<\/li>\n<li>Some birds love&#8217;m and some don&#8217;t. In my yard the ones that don&#8217;t include European Starlings and House Sparrows, which suits me just fine. Mostly I get House Finches, American Goldfinches and Lesser Goldfinches feeding on the seeds but if you have more variety you should get more species.<\/li>\n<li>Hummingbirds are attracted to the Amaranth for cover, for shady resting places and for feeding on the tiny insects they provide.<\/li>\n<li>A variety of species, including California Quail, like to dust bathe in the shaded soil beneath the Amaranth, and others collect the seeds that fall to the ground.<\/li>\n<li>By midsummer the very tall plants are great for providing backyard privacy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Potential disadvantages:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In my garden the seeds that fell to the ground in the fall &#8216;volunteer&#8217; every spring so in early summer I have to keep them under control by tilling\/weeding. However, they don&#8217;t grow in what&#8217;s left of my lawn and they&#8217;re fairly easy to control, even in my garden.<\/li>\n<li>This variety may be too tall for some\/many uses but it&#8217;s just about perfect for me.<\/li>\n<li>Preferences of the plant include being sown outside (or volunteered outside) rather than started indoors which makes them spindly (it won&#8217;t start growing until it&#8217;s warm enough so late frost generally isn&#8217;t a problem), when very small their soil must be kept moist but after that they&#8217;re fairly tolerant of dry soil, they do best with lots of sun.<\/li>\n<li>If you live in a windy area they may, or may not, need to be staked.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"101060\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2021\/08\/06\/photographing-birds-in-my-garden-yesterday-morning\/garden-and-amaranth-b-ron-dudley\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/garden-and-amaranth-b-ron-dudley.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"900,679\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;1.7&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;SM-G950U&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1628159630&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;4.25&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;50&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.00063775510204082&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"garden and amaranth b ron dudley\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/garden-and-amaranth-b-ron-dudley.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-101060 size-full\" title=\"garden-and-amaranth-b-ron-dudley\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/garden-and-amaranth-b-ron-dudley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"679\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/garden-and-amaranth-b-ron-dudley.jpg 900w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/garden-and-amaranth-b-ron-dudley-300x226.jpg 300w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/garden-and-amaranth-b-ron-dudley-768x579.jpg 768w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/garden-and-amaranth-b-ron-dudley-150x113.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This is what my Amaranth looks when the flower plumes are just beginning to dominate the plants. I told you they were tall.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"119213\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2022\/09\/17\/amaranth-a-bounty-of-food-for-fall-yard-birds\/amaranth\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/amaranth.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"682,900\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;1.7&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;SM-G950U&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1663319973&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;4.25&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;50&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0.00094339622641509&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"amaranth\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/amaranth.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-119213 size-full\" title=\"amaranth\" src=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/amaranth.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"682\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/amaranth.jpg 682w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/amaranth-227x300.jpg 227w, https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/amaranth-114x150.jpg 114w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 682px) 100vw, 682px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>And this is what they look like a few weeks later when the plants become flower heavy and often loaded with birds.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>So, if you&#8217;re interested in seeds, I have enough left to send out about a half-dozen samples (maybe more) of several hundred tiny seeds to regular blog followers. Here&#8217;s the procedure: Use the Contact Me link at the top of my blog to let me know you&#8217;re interested. I&#8217;ll email you and provide my mailing address so you can send me a stamped, self-addressed envelope. I&#8217;ll use those envelopes to send seeds to those who request them until I run out. Your order on the list will be determined by the order I receive the stamped, self-addressed envelopes. Please, no requests from out of country &#8211; too many potential problems with mailing seeds out of the USA.<\/p>\n<p>I know, this is a long and verbose blog post for the very few readers who may have much interest in it. But after two very rough days of surgery recovery I feel well enough this morning to write and publish a post and I didn&#8217;t want the seeds to go to waste unnecessarily.<\/p>\n<p>Besides, I can&#8217;t yet run a marathon or bust broncs so what else do I have to do?<\/p>\n<p>Ron<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Update: <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>As you can see, demand for my limited number of seeds has been much higher than expected (I got a bunch from Facebook followers too.). I&#8217;m sure I&#8217;ve already sent my snail mail address to more viewers than I have seeds to fill their requests.so please, no more requests. I&#8217;ll send fewer seeds in each order than I intended to and fill as many requests as I can. I apologize if that means you already sent me a SASE and won&#8217;t get any seeds.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Both this year and last year there was a lot of interest in the Amaranth I plant in my &#8216;mostly&#8217; vegetable garden for yard birds. This year I offered seeds to those readers who might want to give them a try. (5 photos)<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2022\/10\/03\/last-call-for-amaranth-seeds\/\"><span>Continue reading<\/span><i class=\"crycon-right-dir\"><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3823,334,392,5355],"tags":[6536,6563,655,4697],"class_list":["post-120922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-goldfinch-birds","category-birds","category-feeding-bird-behaviors","category-house-finch","tag-amaranth-seeds-for-birds","tag-growth-requirements","tag-house-finch","tag-lesser-goldfinch"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/lesser-goldfinch-8104-ron-dudley.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1zzJh-vsm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120922"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120991,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120922\/revisions\/120991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}