Cosmos - Annual Flower For Summer Gardening Color © 2006

Cosmos bipinnnatus

Cosmos - Annual flower for full sun.

A very good annual for butterfly gardens or any summer flower garden. Depending on the cultivar, the height of the plant can be anywhere from about 12 inches tall to over six feet. The taller ones require staking, or they will fall over. Flower colors are red, carmine, pink, white, orange, yellow. The flower color depends on the cultivar. There are some doubled varieties. Some varieties listed by the seed catalogs:
Sunny - 18 - 24 inches, red, orange, yellow, gold.
Cosmic - 12 -18 inches tall. Orange, red, yellow.
Sonata - 24 inches tall. Colors are white, rose, pink, and carmine.
Daydream - 48 inches tall. It has white petals, which darken to a crimson center.

This is only a sampling of cosmos flower varieties. There are many others, with a rainbow of colors available.

Cosmos may be seeded directly into the garden; indeed, it may self seed, although the resulting volunteer flower plants may not be like the parent. The flower plants develop quickly and bloom profusely.

There are few problems associated with Cosmos and the plants will take a certain amount of abuse. I try to stay away from the tall ones, because they like to fall over making my flower garden hard to get around in. But if you have the room, and can provide support for them, by all means grow them, as cosmos makes an impressive display in the summer flower garden. They are ideal for cutting, too, so a table top bouquet of fresh flowers every day is not an unreasonable request from these prolific annuals.

Even though they grow fast, I still like to start them in the greenhouse about six weeks before frost. They are a warm weather annual flower and will not tolerate any frost, so make sure you set them out after the frost free date in your area.

Cosmos seed is large, about one quarter inch long. Because of their large size and quickness of germination they are ideal starter plants for young children whom are being introduced to the wonderful hobby of gardening.

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