Yes from late feburary, I start mine off on a sunny windowsil in seed trays in gritty compost. Prick them out when they have their first true leaves (you'll know what Cosmos leaves should look like) pot on to 5cm pots and off they go outside to the propagator, then pot them on again to 10cm pots until they're big enough to grow in the ground around April.
You can sow Cosmos directly in to the ground as well, although I'm not much of a fan of that as the seedlings are tasty to slugs, snails and mice. If you want to do this though it should work, just sow more seeds than you think is necessary.
I grow pure white ones, seashells and the maroon ones you've mentioned this way.
As mentioned Cosmos are annual. I have seen them grow in Africa and in their homeland, Mexico. They grow to large 6ft bushes over there, but die down every year. In the UK you collect the seed heads and get more to grow next year - they are pretty easy to germiniate. They also self seed though my ones this year are just about to flower.
just a note to add I stook a couple of broken cosmos around the edge of a plastic pot about a fortnight ago. today i needed the pot so dug them out and they had loads of little white roots around the base of stems. i was thinking that nest year when growing seeeds is it worth taking some stem cuttins from strong plants to make more?
They are a lovely flower to grow on the alloment and the bees just love them. They will sometimes happily set seed but it is lovely trying out new varieties from the seed people. Also a lovely cut flower especially for the annual seed category in the horticultural show. I find they grow much taller on there as they have plenty of space and dont have to compete with all the other flowers.
I know there's loads to choose from but these are two of my favorites, Gazebo Red and Peppermint Rock, the latter is a very changeable variety ranging from almost all white with the narrowest pink strip around the outer edeges, to almost 50/50 pink and white varigation all over the petals. Just tie a piece of string around the stem of your favorite flowers and save the seed for next year. Im not sure if they cross pollinate with the other varieties that I grow because they change so much but isn't waiting to see what you've got half the fun?
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Yes from late feburary, I start mine off on a sunny windowsil in seed trays in gritty compost. Prick them out when they have their first true leaves (you'll know what Cosmos leaves should look like) pot on to 5cm pots and off they go outside to the propagator, then pot them on again to 10cm pots until they're big enough to grow in the ground around April.
You can sow Cosmos directly in to the ground as well, although I'm not much of a fan of that as the seedlings are tasty to slugs, snails and mice. If you want to do this though it should work, just sow more seeds than you think is necessary.
I grow pure white ones, seashells and the maroon ones you've mentioned this way.
As mentioned Cosmos are annual. I have seen them grow in Africa and in their homeland, Mexico. They grow to large 6ft bushes over there, but die down every year. In the UK you collect the seed heads and get more to grow next year - they are pretty easy to germiniate. They also self seed though my ones this year are just about to flower.
just a note to add I stook a couple of broken cosmos around the edge of a plastic pot about a fortnight ago. today i needed the pot so dug them out and they had loads of little white roots around the base of stems. i was thinking that nest year when growing seeeds is it worth taking some stem cuttins from strong plants to make more?
now i can i thought i'd share a pic anyone got any more b interested to look at good companions
Purity seem to be a popular one so will look for some to sow next year. I will also try doing stem cutting and see what happens. Thanks for the tip.
They are a lovely flower to grow on the alloment and the bees just love them. They will sometimes happily set seed but it is lovely trying out new varieties from the seed people. Also a lovely cut flower especially for the annual seed category in the horticultural show. I find they grow much taller on there as they have plenty of space and dont have to compete with all the other flowers.
I know there's loads to choose from but these are two of my favorites, Gazebo Red and Peppermint Rock, the latter is a very changeable variety ranging from almost all white with the narrowest pink strip around the outer edeges, to almost 50/50 pink and white varigation all over the petals. Just tie a piece of string around the stem of your favorite flowers and save the seed for next year. Im not sure if they cross pollinate with the other varieties that I grow because they change so much but isn't waiting to see what you've got half the fun?