I bought some Cosmos 'Dwarf Purple Picotee' seeds a while back. I am not a great fan of growing things by seed but just now and then I do. I started them off in trays indoors in May and planted them out when they were a decent size. I wanted a type of Cosmos that would not be tall. I once grew some at the front of a border and then were huge, falling over, and they looked so wrongly placed. Now my dwarf cosmos are in flower and only a couple of feet tall (24" = 60cm) and flowering profusely. I dead-head them daily and as fast as I cut off the dead flowers, new buds take their place. I grow them in tubs as I wasn't sure if slugs would eat the young plants if I planted them in a border.
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| Cosmos 'Dwarf Purple Picotee' |
Look at all the buds. They really are lovely and, as a bonus, the open flowers attract pollinators. I've planted the plants in tubs in multi-purpose compost, and placed where they get full sun. They've been flowering quite a while and are said to flower from April until October. I love the delicate looking foliage too.  |
| Cosmos 'Dwarf Purple Picotee' |