Cosmos bipinnatus
Cosmos, Mexican aster: this flower from the Mexican highlands owes its name to the Greek kosmos, meaning the order and harmony of the world—a tribute to the perfectly regular arrangement of its petals. It is also one of the most generous and easiest annuals to grow, even for first-time gardeners.
Characteristics:
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Unfailing flowering: from summer until the first frosts, in white, pink, and red, on delicate, finely cut foliage.
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Versatile: flower bed, border, rock garden, planter, or cut flower, it adapts anywhere.
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Carefree: one of the most tolerant annuals, ideal for beginners.
Sowing advice:
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Exposure: sunny to lightly shaded.
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Soil: ordinary, even poor and dry, but especially well drained. This is the counterintuitive point: soil that is too rich or over-fertilized produces huge, leafy plants with few flowers, which flop during the first storm. Do not fertilize.
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Method: sow directly in place from April in mild climates, and after the frosts elsewhere, covering the seeds lightly. No soaking or stratification. Thin to 30–40 cm apart. See how to sow your seeds.
Care advice:
- Water regularly but not excessively. Pinch out young stems to encourage branching, and remove faded flowers to extend flowering until the frosts.
Beneficial pairings:
- It pairs perfectly with other wild-style summer flowers such as cornflower, to create a cottage-style flower bed.
- Sown along the edge of the vegetable garden, it attracts pollinators to the crops—see pairing flowers with vegetables.
Benefits for biodiversity:
- Its broad, flat, highly accessible flowers feed bees, bumblebees, hoverflies, and butterflies for an exceptionally long period, until the first frosts.
- Its seeds, left standing at the end of the season, are a feast for goldfinches and other seed-eating birds.
Uses:
- An excellent cut flower: picked when the bud is well colored, it lasts a good week in a vase.
Harvesting your own seeds:
Leave a few faded flowers to form their elongated, needle-shaped seeds, then harvest them once they are brown and dry. Cosmos readily self-seeds from one year to the next. See how to store your seeds.
Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Auvergne Volcanoes, we choose open-pollinated, non-hybrid varieties, test them for germination rates, and carefully sort and package them without any chemical treatment. Our conviction: to give gardeners back the ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
Enjoy a spectacular display of white, pink, and red cosmos all summer with these seeds.
