Helping You Become a More Successful Gardener
Plant Search
All-America Selections
Poaceae
Zea mays 'Indian Summer'
Ornamental Corn
A 2000 All-America Selections winner, 'Indian Summer' is a multicolored sweet corn that is both beautiful and fun. Its super sweet kernels are yellow, white, red and/or burgundy purple and even intensify after cooking. Medium-sized ears are produced around 80 days after planting.
Corn is a warm season annual garden vegetable. The tall grassy plants will take off as soon as days and nights lose their chill. They develop tall stalks with long, thick arching green blades. Corn has two flower types; the pollen producing male tassels and the seed-producing female flowers along the ears. The pollen in the tassels is carried by wind and shakes down on the distinctive silky threadlike stigmas of the corn ears. Once pollinated, the juicy sweet kernels develop. Sweet corn is typically harvested in mid to late summer and there are many varieties with white, yellow and peach-colored kernels. Colorful, ornamental Indian corn is a testament to the broad range of colors that can exist in hard varieties. These include blue, orange, red and near black.
Days to harvest vary from between 65 to 75 days. It is essential to pick corn at its prime and store it properly. You can tell when an ear is ready when the kernels are full, plump and properly colored. Another test is to pierce a plump kernel with your nail. If it emits milky juice it is ready. When buying fresh corn at the store, you can always tell the freshest ears because these will have new white cuts at the base of the ear. Those with browning bases should be avoided because corn tends to get starchy and loses its sweetness with age.
Grow corn in full hot sun and fertile, nutrient-rich soil with good drainage. It grows best with intermittent watering. It is necessary to grow several rows of corn for both cross pollination and to get enough ears for the table. There are a number of diseases and pests that plague corn. Corn earworms are common as are nighttime raids from raccoons. The grotesque fungal disease called corn smut is another problem to be watchful of.
Corn is a must for the large warm season veggie garden. There are lots of wonderful varieties to choose from and nothing makes the summer sweeter or tastier.
12 - 5
A1, A2, A3, H1, H2, 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Vegetable
Full Sun
6'-7' / 1.8m - 2.1m
2'-4' / 0.6m - 1.2m
Indeterminate
Hybrid Origin, North America, Central America, South America
Neutral
Well Drained
Loam
Very Fast
Average Water
Upright/Erect
Spring, Summer, Fall
Insignificant
White, Yellow, Light Yellow, Peach
Multi-Color
Green, Dark Green
No
Yes
Coarse
Glossy
Edible, Herb / Vegetable
© 2006-2012 Preferred Commerce. All Rights Reserved.
