Drought Tolerant Cosmos Bipinnatus Sonata Carmine Cut Flowers For Bouquets

Cosmos (Cosmos Bipinnatus Sonata Carmine) - The Sonata series combines a compact mounded form with massive flowering! Easy to grow, they tolerate heat and dry conditions once established. Cut often for armloads of carmine colored blossoms. This container-perfect form of carmine cosmos, just like "Dazzler" but one-third the size. You cannot go wrong with this easy to grow and very long-flowering variety. Use it as a front of border filler. Pick or cut it for vases, bouquets, and flower arrangements too.

For the best flower production plant in soils of average fertility with moderate water. Cosmos plants tolerate heat, drought, and poor soils. Remove spent blooms to promote additional flowers. Cosmos will usually self-sow if some spent blossoms are kept on plants. Cut flowers typically last 5 to 9 days when blooms are cut as petals unfold. Flowers fully open in vase. Cosmos attract birds, bees and butterflies.

Directly sow Cosmos Bipinnatus seeds into prepared seed beds after danger of frost has passed. For a natural setting, the flower seeds can be scattered onto the prepared soil. Lightly rake the soil over the seeds at a depth of 1/16 inch and keep the area moist.

Beautiful Cut Flower

How to Grow

Cosmos seeds should be directly sown into prepared seedbeds outdoors after all danger of frost has passed. For a natural setting, the seeds can be scattered onto the prepared soil. Lightly rake the soil over the seeds at a depth of 1/16 inch and keep the area moist. Under proper conditions, these seeds will germinate in 14-21 days. These plants will self-sow and return the next year if some spent blooms are allowed to remain on the plant. However, deadheading will prolong the bloom season for the current year.

• Environment: full sun
• Soil: well-drained w' pH 6.1-7.4
• Sowing rate: 6 seeds per plant

Plant Specifications

Cosmos is an annual flowering plant that grows in USDA zones 3 through 10. Cosmos flowers are commonly grown for cutting, and they can last for over a week in the vase.

• Bloom color: carmine
• Bloom season: spring through summer
• Plant height: 24 inches