Now that the first of the little early crocuses\u2014Crocus chrysanthus\u2014have opened their petals, I am opening the seed catalogs to put together my orders.\u00a0 Of course, I peruse websites and visit garden centers as well, but I cling to the notion that there is nothing like catalog browsing to whet the gardening appetite.<\/p>\n
Every year certain plants catch my eye, drawing me to them the way magpies are drawn to shiny objects.\u00a0 Right now I am fixated on cosmos, specifically Cosmos bipinnatus, the much loved and widely planted annual garden variety.\u00a0 Cosmos bear their summer daisies in shades of white, pink and purple.\u00a0 Another cosmos species, Cosmos sulphureus, has the same daisy-like flowers as the bipinnatus varieties, but those flowers bloom in brighter colors, including reds, yellows and oranges.<\/p>\n
For years I have grown white cosmos in my front garden as an airy accompaniment to the roses, yarrow and coneflowers.\u00a0 The cosmos self seed, though not as readily as really profligate annuals, like larkspur and nigella.\u00a0 Still, in years when I forget to sow new batches of seed, I generally end up with some white cosmos anyway.<\/p>\n
While browsing one of the catalogs I was struck by two new bipinnatus varieties, \u2018Double Cranberry\u2019 and \u2018Yellow Garden\u2019.\u00a0 \u2018Double Cranberry\u2019 actually looks closer to deep rose or cerise in the catalog photo and it is very appealing\u2014almost like a small peony.\u00a0 The plants are tall, topping out at between three and four feet, with the characteristic feathery cosmos leaves.\u00a0 \u2018Double Cranberry\u2019 is available from at least one vendor as a plant, rather than as packaged seeds.\u00a0 In looking at online offerings, I noticed that many seed vendors are selling a double Cosmos bipinnatus variety called \u2018Double Click Cranberries\u2019.\u00a0 The photos show flowers that look exactly like those of \u2018Double Cranberry,\u2019 so I assume they are all the same plants.\u00a0 The confusion probably has to do with the usual plant naming issues\u2014trademarks, patents, proprietary rights, etc.\u00a0 What appeals to me and most likely to others, is the idea of a big beautiful, double-flowered cosmos in a shade of red or deep rose.\u00a0 Whether you buy seeds or starter plants of \u2018Double Cranberry\u2019 or \u2018Double Click Cranberries\u2019, you will get that.<\/p>\n
Existing yellow cosmos are bright chromium yellow, which is wonderful in \u201chot\u201d colored garden beds.\u00a0 The \u2018Yellow Garden\u2019 variety has soft, butter-yellow petals with a white eye zone around each yellow center.\u00a0 They are also tall and free-blooming and would work well with blue and blue-purple flowered annuals and perennials like \u2018Johnson\u2019s Blue\u2019 hardy geraniums, purple coneflowers and delphiniums or larkspur. There is no name confusion with \u2018Yellow Garden\u2019, so the only thing you have to worry about is planting seeds in a timely fashion.\u00a0 \u2018Yellow Garden\u2019 takes somewhat longer than other cosmos to flower from seed or starter plants, so get seeds in the ground as soon as all danger of frost has passed.\u00a0 Alternately, start the seeds indoors about a month before the last frost date for your area and move them outside when the weather warms up.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t know your region\u2019s last frost date, go to the handy chart at http:\/\/www.almanac.com\/content\/frost-chart-united-states<\/a><\/p>\n Over the past decade or so, with the increase in small space and container gardening, dwarf cosmos varieties have gotten more publicity than taller types.\u00a0 The dwarf forms have their uses, but it is nice to have something a bit larger for the middles of beds and borders.\u00a0 Tall cosmos, like \u2018Double Cranberry\u2019 and \u2018Yellow Garden\u2019 can also be grown in the center of a large pot, with lower growing plants in front of or surrounding them.\u00a0 Most cosmos do not need staking unless they are planted in spots where high winds are a problem.<\/p>\n Cosmos benefit from regular moisture during the growing season and frequent deadheading to remove spent blooms and encourage repeat flowering.\u00a0 If the plants get too leggy and attenuated in mid summer, cut them back by one third, feed with fish emulsion or other organic fertilizer and water well.\u00a0 They will spring back and bloom until the first frost.\u00a0 If you stop deadheading in the fall, you may lose the last few flowers, but you will gain a few self sown plants.<\/p>\n Late nineteenth century poet and salon hostess Celia Thaxter planted cosmos among the old-fashioned flowers in her fabled summer gardens on Appledore Island, off the New Hampshire Coast.\u00a0 American Impressionist artist Childe Hassam immortalized those gardens, cosmos and all.\u00a0 You can get the same effect with a little effort and very little cost.\u00a0 To buy \u2018Double Cranberry\u2019, \u2018Yellow Garden\u2019 and a variety of other interesting annuals, contact Annie\u2019s Annuals and Perennials, 801 Chesley Avenue, Richmond, CA 94801; (888) 266-4370, www.anniesannuals.com<\/a>. Free catalog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Now that the first of the little early crocuses\u2014Crocus chrysanthus\u2014have opened their petals, I am opening the seed catalogs to put together my orders.\u00a0 Of course, I peruse websites and visit garden centers as well, but I cling to the notion that there is nothing like catalog browsing to whet the gardening appetite. Every year … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2,3],"tags":[534,535,533,536,532,91],"class_list":["post-760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","tag-double-cranberry","tag-doubleclick-cranberries","tag-yellow-garden","tag-annual-flowers","tag-cosmos","tag-summer-flowers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":761,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760\/revisions\/761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}