How to Care for Orange Cosmos
Children or adults just beginning their interest in gardening often attempt to develop their green thumbs by growing cosmos (Cosmos sulphureus). This easy-to-grow annual flower grows quickly and rewards the gardener with lots of flowers that attract bees and butterflies. The flowers become seed heads that may be harvested and sown later. Plant orange-flowering types of cosmos after the threat of frost passes in spring in a fertile, moist but well-drained soil. Cosmos plants excel in sunny locations with at least six hours of direct sunlight daily. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Pull or hoe out weeds that germinate around the young or mature orange cosmos plants. Cosmos develop thin, wide-spreading but shallow roots. Nearby weeds rob the cosmos of soil moisture and nutrients, and if the weeds get too large, block sunshine from reaching the plant's leaves.
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Supplement rainfall with water from the irrigation system or a sprinkling to maintain an evenly moist soil during the heat of the growing season. Overly dry conditions cause orange cosmos to wilt. While soggy soil must be avoided, allowing the soil to slightly dry out between watering is fine.
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Pluck off old flower heads from orange cosmos, a process known as deadheading. Using a scissors, snip off the withering flower by making a cut down the flower stem where it attaches to the main plant stem or above a leaf of another flower stem. Deadheading reallocates energy from creating seeds to producing more flowers elsewhere on the plant.
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Fertilize cosmos with a balanced, water-soluble fertilizer, such as 10-10-10, every two-to-four weeks. If the garden soil is already fertile and enriched with compost or manure, the need for fertilizing is diminished. Water-soluble fertilizer may be applied in tandem with a regular watering from a sprinkling can to keep the soil from becoming too dry.
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Continue to deadhead, water and fertilize the orange cosmos up until the first autumn frost, which kills the plants. Harvest any developing seed heads once frost hits since you can save the seeds over the winter indoors in a paper envelope and sow them again next spring.
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Tips & Warnings
Not deadheading creates lots of seed heads that eventually shatter and end up on the ground to germinate. Allowing some seeds to sprout creates a renewing patch of new orange cosmos plants to sprout. You may choose to pull up excessive numbers of cosmos seedlings to improve their health and the overall tidiness of the bed.
Avoid watering the cosmos plants from above, wetting the leaves. Wet foliage leads to powdery mildew.
Watch for aphids on new growth on cosmos, especially if the plants are not growing in full sun.
Do not plant cosmos when temperatures below 35 degrees Fahrenheit are still occurring. Soils chiller than 60 degrees slow seed germination, and any seedlings above the soil when a frost occurs are quickly killed.
References
- "A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants"; Christopher Brickell, et al.; 2004
Resources
- Photo Credit Tom Brakefield/Stockbyte/Getty Images
