I have in my garden five huge concrete bowl-shaped containers. They have been planted with Purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) and are all mulched with lapilli.
Last year the coneflowers started become really ugly and this year they are what I can only call eyesores, so this fall they'll go. The lapilli have also become largely ineffective in keeping the highly invasive buttercup in check. It's amazing where that thing will grow.

So I am thinking of shifting my strategy and plant some Love-lies-bleeding in those containers.
So I'd like to know a couple of things:

1)This zone is 8a but usually the weather doesn't really pick up until the last week of April/first week of May. High humidity is the norm during Summer with highly variable weather. Fall is usually pleasant but dry.
2)I confess I've never started Love-lies-bleeding from seed... Do I start them indoors, or can I seed them on the spot? Do the seedlings require thinning or will they just grow on their own?

Thanks everybody!

Love lies bleeding amaranthus. Also can be very invasive.
Follower instructions on back of seed package.

Sow amaranthus seeds indoors 6-8 weeks before the last frost in sterile soilless mixture.
Sow thinly and evenly and cover with fine seed starting formula.
Maintain at a temperature around 60 degrees Fahrenheit for germination.
Seedlings emerge in 10-14 days thin down once they emerge.
Then pot in separate 2" pots after first three sets of leaves form.
Plant out after danger of frost has gone.

In my garden I stared by seed in greenhouse a few weeks before last frost date. Every year since they self seed in garden . Sometimes they pop up in areas the birds have left their dropping. Little surprises! They come in ruby red or lime green. Very interesting and a show stopper in the garden.

Always fun to start from seed! Easy Peasy plants to grow.