Growing Magenta Spreen: A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · August 10, 2026
Magenta spreen is a relative of lambsquarters and quinoa, grown as much for its looks as for eating; young leaves and growing tips carry a distinctive magenta-pink dusting that fades as the plant matures.
One of the widest planting windows around
Direct-seed as soon as the ground can be worked in early spring, sowing 20 seeds per foot and covering half an inch deep, in rows 18 to 30 inches apart. Magenta spreen tolerates both hot and cold weather, giving it a much wider planting window than most greens, best used from early spring through midsummer.
Succession sowing keeps it coming
Replant every couple of weeks through the season for a continuous harvest right up until frost, rather than relying on one large planting. Pick leaves once plants reach 6 to 8 inches tall; the plant keeps producing young, edible leaves after picking.
Magenta spreen has no well-established companion pairings, and nothing it needs to be kept away from. At 2 plants per square foot and standing tall, it works well as a colorful backdrop row in the Garden Designer, doubling as an ornamental and a green.
Source: Magenta Spreen: Key Growing Information, Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Companion planting guide for Magenta Spreen · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 2-11. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Mature height: 4-6 ft
Method: Direct sow: Direct-sow outside. It doesn't transplant well, or doesn't need the extra time indoors.
When to plant magenta spreen, by zone
Every zone magenta spreen grows in. Pick your zone in the header and it will be highlighted here. Each zone links to its full page.
| Zone | Start indoors | Sow or plant out | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2a & 2b | Not usually | Apr 29–May 6 | Jun 13–Jun 20 |
| 3a & 3b | Not usually | May 9–May 16 | Jun 23–Jun 30 |
| 4a & 4b | Not usually | Apr 24–May 1 | Jun 8–Jun 15 |
| 5a & 5b | Not usually | Apr 19–Apr 26 | Jun 3–Jun 10 |
| 6a & 6b | Not usually | Apr 4–Apr 11 | May 19–May 26 |
| 7a & 7b | Not usually | Mar 20–Mar 27 | May 4–May 11 |
| 8a & 8b | Not usually | Mar 4–Mar 11 | Apr 18–Apr 25 |
| 9a & 9b | Not usually | Jan 25–Feb 1 | Mar 11–Mar 18 |
| 10a & 10b | Not usually | Jan 9–Jan 16 | Feb 23–Mar 2 |
| 11a & 11b | Not usually | Dec 11–Dec 18 | Jan 25–Feb 1 |
Harvest dates are about 45 days after the sow or plant-out date.
Zone 2 sows before zone 3 here, which looks wrong and is not. USDA zones rank winter cold, not season length, and zone 2 is mostly interior Alaska, where hard winters come with warm summers. More on what a zone measures.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Magenta Spreen plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 2 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 4-6 ft.
Varieties worth considering
- Straight-species magenta spreen (Chenopodium giganteum): Johnny's Selected Seeds sells this species plain, without competing named cultivars; the magenta leaf coating and growing habit are traits of the species itself. (source)
Why each variety is listed comes from the source shown next to it. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement. The buy links are separate from those sources: they go to seed suppliers that sell that exact variety, and we may earn a commission on some of them.
Where to buy magenta spreen seeds
None of the seed suppliers we list carries magenta spreen seeds right now. A local garden center or a specialty seed house is the place to look.
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See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing magenta spreen" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Magenta Spreen: A relative of lambsquarters and quinoa, grown as an ornamental-edible green whose young leaves are dusted with a distinctive magenta-pink coating.
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