Paper Fireworks: Rio Grande Globe Amaranth Up Close

Macro photograph of a Rio Grande Globe Amaranth flower head with layered red and magenta papery bracts and tiny star-shaped yellow florets, set against a dark background. — *Paper Fireworks*

In early September 2026, I went to the Sunken Garden at San Gabriel Park in Georgetown, Texas. The garden is small but offers a good variety of plants and flowers. Although I often go there to photograph pollinators, nature often has other plans. Whatever I end up photographing, it’s always a win-win situation. On this particular late afternoon, I wanted to practice using a ring flash I had recently bought. Here are a few macro shots featuring the Rio Grande Globe Amaranth (Gomphrena haageana).

Macro photographs always reveal much more than we see with the naked eye. With the addition of a ring flash, I found another layer I wasn’t expecting. The colors were more vibrant and richer — so much so that I pulled down the saturation slider in Lightroom because I thought they were too intense.

The header image presented me with fireworks. Look at the flower head: those tiny, star-shaped yellow florets emerging from the bright, papery bracts are the true flowers. The second photo shows a similar view of those flowers.

Side view of a Rio Grande Globe Amaranth flower head, with fresh red bracts and yellow tubular florets at the top fading to straw-colored bracts at the base, against a black background. — *Sparks Rising*

A Flower Made of Paper

What looks like a single flower is actually a dense head of dozens of tiny flowers. Each one is tucked between stiff, papery bracts that hold their color long after the flowers fade. That is why globe amaranths are favorites for dried arrangements — the “petals” are already dry to the touch while the plant is alive. As the head ages, the lower bracts fade to a straw color, which you can see at the base of the flower heads in the first two photos, while fresh red bracts keep opening at the top.

Gomphrena belongs to the amaranth family (Amaranthaceae), the same family as pigweed, quinoa, and spinach. Most gardeners know its cousin, the common globe amaranth (Gomphrena globosa), a tropical annual with purple, pink, or white button flowers. The Rio Grande Globe Amaranth is different: it is a perennial that grows from a tuberous root, with slender, hairy, lance-shaped leaves and flower heads about 3/4 to 1 inch (2 to 2.5 cm) across. Plants usually stand 6 to 18 inches (15 to 45 cm) tall.

Why “Rio Grande”?

The name points to where this plant comes from. Gomphrena haageana is native to the borderlands along the Rio Grande — western and central Texas (including the Edwards Plateau), southern New Mexico, and the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Sonora. In the wild, it grows on rocky banks and in dry shrubland, often on caliche and clay soils, which makes it remarkably drought- and heat-tolerant. Its common name, “Rio Grande,” sets this native apart from the more familiar tropical globe amaranth sold in garden centers.

Gardeners may also know it by a cultivar name: ‘Strawberry Fields,’ a popular red-flowered selection of this species grown for gardens and cut flowers.

Small Flower, Big Value

Rio Grande Globe Amaranth blooms in the fall, roughly September through November, just as many other plants wind down. Its nectar and pollen draw butterflies and other pollinators, and birds eat the seeds later in the season. For a Texas garden, it checks every box: full sun, little water, poor soil, and long-lasting color.

As for the last two images, I look at those flowers and see a little center like a rose. When I changed the composition of that single flower, it took on the look of a windmill, the bracts spiraling out from the center.

Two Rio Grande Globe Amaranth flower heads among slender green leaves; the one in front shows a glowing orange, rose-like spiral of bracts at its center ringed with red and yellow florets. — *Rose at the Heart*

Vertical macro photograph of a single Rio Grande Globe Amaranth on a green stem, its red and orange bracts spiraling out from a rose-like center like a windmill, with a hairy green leaf curling beside it. — *Pinwheel in Bloom*

That is the story behind the shots. For more like this, enjoy these related stories: FlowerHour, Georgetown, Macros, Rio Grande Globe Amaranth, San Gabriel Park, Sunken Garden, Texas, and Wildflowers. Until the next shoot, keep chasing the light and the wonders it reveals.

Posted for Terri’s Flower Hour #51 (hosted by Pam of Enchanting Essex).

Sources

Native Plant Society of Texas – Rio Grande Globe Amaranth (Gomphrena haageana): https://www.npsot.org/posts/native-plant/gomphrena-haageana/

Flora of North America – Gomphrena haageana: https://floranorthamerica.org/Gomphrena%20haageana

Wikipedia – Gomphrena haageana: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gomphrena_haageana

Desert Tropicals – Rio Grande Globe Amaranth: https://desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Amaranthaceae/Gomphrena_haageana.html

Johnny’s Selected Seeds – Strawberry Fields Gomphrena: https://www.johnnyseeds.com/flowers/gomphrena-globe-amaranth/strawberry-fields-gomphrena-seed-1512.html