Author Topic: Cosmos  (Read 2728 times)

woodypecks

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 601
    • Daisy in the Garden
Cosmos
« on: March 21, 2021, 06:47:28 »
Never grown Cosmos before , they look so pretty ! So I started some seeds on my windowsill and am surprised at  how fast they germinated !  :icon_cheers:   So now I,m thinking would it actually be better to just throw these seeds down on the earth and let them germinate where I want them to grow ? That way I would save all the faffing about pricking them out ,potting them on and using  up all my expensive compost .   AND ....is it too early to sow them outside yet ? Should I just go for it ?    :coffee2: Debbie  :wave:
Trespassers will be composted !

Flighty

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,680
    • Flighty's Plot
Re: Cosmos
« Reply #1 on: March 21, 2021, 07:45:24 »
Lovely flowers, I grow lots of them.  I start some off in pots on the windowsill, and most I direct sow during April. 
It's easy to save seed, or let them self-seed for the following year.
Flighty's plot,  http://flightplot.wordpress.com,  is my blog.

I support the Gardening with Disabilities Trust, http://www.gardeningwithdisabilitiestrust.org.uk

woodypecks

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 601
    • Daisy in the Garden
Re: Cosmos
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2021, 10:20:36 »
Thanks Flighty . I saw your pictures of your beautiful Cosmos on your blog and just knew I had to grow some of them ! I follow your blog but can't comment as I don't have a wordpress account . I am very inspired by all your lovely photographs .  :coffee2: Thanks for the Cosmos advice .The ones on my windowsill are getting a bit leggy , another good reason to direct sow I think ! Many thanks again !  :wave: Debbie
Trespassers will be composted !

Flighty

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,680
    • Flighty's Plot
Re: Cosmos
« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2021, 14:04:39 »
You're welcome.  Thanks, that's good to know.  You should be able to comment on my blog regardless, I'll recheck the settings.  Good for you.  A pleasure.  Take care.  xx
Flighty's plot,  http://flightplot.wordpress.com,  is my blog.

I support the Gardening with Disabilities Trust, http://www.gardeningwithdisabilitiestrust.org.uk

Obelixx

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,936
  • Vendée, France
Re: Cosmos
« Reply #4 on: March 21, 2021, 17:55:20 »
Cosmos is one of the few flowers OH recognises so I sowed some here the first spring and it came back by itself the following year.  After that the bed had a major overhaul because of repeated droughts.   I shall try Cosmos again elsewhere this year and have bought seeds for some hot yellow and orange ones.

I've just been reading your blog for the first time Flighty - too cold to garden with this horrid northerly wind.   Good read.   Coincidence tho.   We lived near you before we moved to Belgium 30 years ago!    Sandringham Crescent.   Is the fish shop still there on the corner? 
Obxx - Vendée France

Flighty

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,680
    • Flighty's Plot
Re: Cosmos
« Reply #5 on: March 22, 2021, 15:14:26 »
Obelixx well done. I think that the seeds you've bought are cosmos sulphureus rather than cosmos bipinnatus which I grow.
That's good to know.  It's been better today as it's sunny and calm, so noticeably warmer.  Thanks.  Yes the fish shop is still there, and I live just up the road from it.   
Flighty's plot,  http://flightplot.wordpress.com,  is my blog.

I support the Gardening with Disabilities Trust, http://www.gardeningwithdisabilitiestrust.org.uk

Obelixx

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 2,936
  • Vendée, France
Re: Cosmos
« Reply #6 on: March 22, 2021, 15:28:53 »
Don't worry.  I have the pink and white ones too in several shades but wanted some hot stuff too.  I'm busy setting up hen proof barriers at the doors of the PT so I can sow some in safety.  They like to inspect everything!  Clumsy lot.

Good that the fish shop is still going.   When they learned we were moving to Belgium and OH was toing and froing at the weekends before the move we did a swap - Belgian chocs for smoked salmon.  Win-win.
Obxx - Vendée France

JanG

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 546
  • Gardening on fen silt
Re: Cosmos
« Reply #7 on: March 23, 2021, 06:12:54 »
I was given some Cosmos sulphurous seed last year, having never met it before. It’s a smaller-flowered, airier sort of plant than the more usual Cosmos, but I liked it very much. It seemed to fit one or two of my somewhat wild, chaotic borders, and is a very cheerful splash of orange.
After also reading Flighty’s blog for the first time, I’ve now ordered Cosmos ‘Xanthos’ seeds, as the delicate pale yellow colouring very much appealed too. Thank you, Flighty.

Deb P

  • Hectare
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,721
  • Still digging it....
Re: Cosmos
« Reply #8 on: March 24, 2021, 08:53:02 »
I’ve only been growing Cosmos for the past five years but have found all varieties easy to germinate.
I really like the double ones like Click Cranberry, but haven’t found they self seed in my garden or at the allotment yet. The creamy yellow Xanthos was quite a bit shorter than all the other varieties I  tried so I planted in pots where they did ok but not as lush as the ones in open ground. I was a bit disappointed with the orange ones I got the seeds from Sarah Raven last year, a very harsh neon orange and the plants took ages to flower and just didn’t seem as vigorous for some reason.
I’m sticking to the darker burgundy shade ones this year, I tray sow with bottom heat and mine are all up within a few days, I prick out to large modules, harden off then planted at the end of April/ early May. 
If it's not pouring with rain, I'm either in the garden or at the lottie! Probably still there in the rain as well TBH....🥴

http://www.littleoverlaneallotments.org.uk

 

anything
SimplePortal 2.3.5 © 2008-2012, SimplePortal