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Hi there,

I'm new to this forum so be gentle lol.

I'm looking for a Chocolate Cosmos plant or seeds. I've been trying to find it every for ages. I've tried to buy it online, but the cheaper sites are all sold out...and all the garden centres nearby dont stock them!

I'd be happy to swap it with anything i have you might be looking for.

Thanks for any help :)

hi, welcome to the forum wahaj, i had a look on ebay and there are a handful on there, i have copied the link for you. good luck. http://search.ebay.co.uk/chocolate-cosmos_W0QQfromZR41QQpqryZchocolateQ20cosmos

It's okay, no need to go for eBay.. I have a slightly bedraggled plant you're welcome to - it was a large/healthy plant the first year I had it, but just has too much trouble getting its new shoots up before snails devour it. So if you fancy pampering it a bit, it's all yours.

Anything that doesn't have yellow/orange flowers is great with me.. If you have any plants that spread or need dividing occasionally, that'd be good - I'm a big fan of irises, day lilies etc. Woodland plants are good, wouldn't mind some bugle, etc. Or cottage garden-y plants.. Drop me a PM anyway. :)

Ta,
Melanie

thanks both of you guys fopr your help.

And thanks for your help Melanie. But I went to a local market today and picked one up! would you believe it after so long. *sigh*

but yes...thanks very much for the help! :D

In case anyone is interested, until a year or two back, you wouldn't have found Chocolate Cosmos (Cosmos atrosanguineus) seeds anywhere.

All of the Chocolate Cosmos plants in Europe were clones of the same plant brought into cultivation over 100 years ago. The plant is not self-fertile, so doesn't produce viable seed. It is thought to be extinct in its native Mexico (no-one has seen any since the original discovery in  the 1860s). Scientists at Kew put quite a bit of effort into trying to find a plant which wasn't an identical clone, to produce lots of plants to re-introduce it to its native environment. They ended up producing them with micro-propagation (ie growing cells in testtubes).

Recently, however, a genetically different plant was found in cultivation in New Zealand (called Pinot Noir) and so it is now possible to produce seed.

ah! that'll explain it then. I guess it's the same with the arabian jasmine :( oh how i long to have it in my garden but the plant doesn't set seed :(

Aha, well done on finding some! For anyone else interested, the offer still stands if you fancy nursing a plant back to health.. :)

Melanie

Ceratonia that's fascinating!  So good to hear dear old Kew is strutting it's stuff  ;)