Cosmos – Lost and Found

I say lost and found, as when I first started gardening a long time ago… I always grew cosmos, but then I discovered perennials and gave up growing annuals for years. Last year though I rediscovered what wonderful plants annuals are and particularly.

2021 – Cosmos came back to the garden

It came about as I created a small wildflower border last year, I bought a few packets of annual seeds including cosmos. Coincidentally a friend had also grown cosmos last year and gave me some of her seedlings – it was meant to be!

Gosh I really had forgotten how lovely they are; how big they grow; how prolifically they flower! Not only producing a mass of flowers, but continuing to flower right into winter.

Last year the plants I had, flowered until that bad frost in mid-December, you can’t complain at that!

2023 – More cosmos in the garden

Over winter, as I sat perusing the seed catalogues the cosmos drew my attention.

I chose four varieties, some white ones called Cupcake, which should actually be called ‘cupcake case’. And some others called  ‘Psyche White’, which are somewhere in-between a single and a double flower.

Also an unusual looking and sounding one called Xsenia – which is below on the left. It’s bi-coloured and changes from mid dusky pink to a purply pink. And a deep, dark pink one, bipinnatus ‘Dazzler’, which certainly is ‘a dazzler’!

As well as the ones a chose, one had seeded itself from last year, with a white centre and deep pink edges.

Cosmos amongst the Grass

Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Dazzler’ I planted in two pots near to the house. They have been flowering since the end of July already and now look fabulous against the bronzed grass ‘Karl Foerster’.

I love to see them early morning with the sun shining through them, they even look good from the back.

Dolly Tubs

When the tulips had finished in the greenhouse dolly tubs, I decided to plant some cosmos. The dahlias I grew in them last year were marvellous, but sadly I lost them all over winter.

The cosmos have been really slow to get going in comparison to plants in other parts of the garden, but… now they have started they are going mad!

They’ve grown into incredibly large plants, presumably helped by all the rain we’ve had. They are now flowering their little socks off, and making it trickier to open and close the greenhouse doors!

Loved by the pollinators

Of course like all open flowers the pollinators absolutely love them, which is even more reason to grow them. Any flowers that attract the insects and particularly bees are welcome in this garden!

Every time you go past them there are bees or hover flies drinking up the nectar. The bees sometimes look like they are having a nap on them.

Mutant Cosmos

The biggest plant in the garden is not where it is supposed to be! When I’d pricked all the seedlings out into pots, back in the spring, I was struggling for space to keep them. I placed multiple pots in the raised bed just outside the greenhouse. This was quite empty at the time awaiting the courgette plants.

I kept grabbing a few more pots to plant either into the garden or various pots. I gave some away, but this one plant sat there awaiting a home.

Before I knew it, it had well and truly broken out of it’s little plastic pot and put roots down into the rich fertilised soil. It got bigger and bigger and I hadn’t the heart to rip it out.

It is only just starting to reward me with flowers, which I’m sure will be spectacular and go on into winter.

I’m pretty sure that I’ll be sowing and growing cosmos every year now. It really is such a good doer!

Happy Gardening.