Cosmos bipinnatus has an upright, richly branched habit with heights of more than 80 cm. The elegant, dahlia-shaped flowers sit on filigree stems with finely divided foliage. The simple beauty earned her the name 'jewelry basket'. Another specialty is the edibility of the flowers. They taste slightly sweet and decorate salads and desserts. As a result, this perennial is not poisonous, which makes it the ideal garden flower for children and pets.
Characteristics
- Plant family: composites
- Botanical name: Cosmos bipinnatus
- German names: ornamental basket, pinnate ornamental flower, cosmea
- Habit: annual, persistent, herbaceous
- Height: 80 - 100 cm
- Flowering period: June / July to October
- Flowers: simple, monochrome or multicolored, edible
- Foliage: light green, pinnate
- Lime tolerance: lime tolerant
- Toxicity: not toxic
Location requirements
The jewelry basket wants to be as warm and sunny as possible, with at least four hours of sun per day. In addition, it should be protected from wind and heavy rain. In partially shaded locations, the flower formation is usually less. Although the Cosmea thrives in fully shady places, it only develops a few flowers, which are usually not as colorful.
Soil condition
Generally speaking, the cosmos grows in any good garden soil. It should not be too heavily fertilized, otherwise it will mainly develop leaves and fewer flowers. If necessary, nutrient-rich soil can be made leaner by mixing in plenty of sand. A soil that is too heavy and dense can be improved by incorporating a generous portion of sand or gravel. Well drained, sandy and humus soils with moderate nutrient content are ideal. The pH should be between 6.5 and 7.5. If the decorative basket is to be cultivated in a tub or balcony box, commercially available substrates for tub and indoor plants are suitable.
Prepare the planting
Cosmos bipinnatus is an annual garden flower. It is therefore advisable to place them in pots on the windowsill and to plant them out in the garden from May. If you like it a little more comfortable, you can buy early young plants in the garden center from May.
- Before planting out, get used to the changed conditions
- Cosmea is very sensitive to the cold
- Is not winter hardy, dies in frost
- It's best to wait until ice saints are over
- Place outdoors in a partially shaded and sheltered place for about two days
- If it's cold at night, it's better to bring it indoors
- In the following two weeks gradually move further and further into the sun
- At the end of the second week, plant in their final place in the garden
- Prepare the soil accordingly beforehand
Tip: When buying young plants, you should pay attention to healthy specimens. You can recognize them by their young, fresh green shoot tips and well-developed roots.
Planting instructions
- First, thoroughly loosen the soil in the planting area
- Soil should be more finely crumbly than too coarse
- Then remove all weeds, root remains and larger stones
- Mix in some sand or compost, depending on the nature of the soil
- Dig out planting holes according to the number of cosmos to be planted
- About one and a half times as deep and wide as the root ball
- Maintain a planting distance of 25 to 30 cm between the individual plants
- Put Kosmee just as deep as you did before in the pot
- Then water carefully
- If possible, use a jug with a watering attachment for watering
Tip: Due to the delicate stems of the decorative basket, it can be advisable, especially with tall varieties, to use appropriate supports when planting.
Beautiful plant partners
Thanks to its naturalness, the decorative basket is a familiar sight, especially in near-natural and cottage gardens. It is versatile and very easy to combine, be it in small groups of 3 to 5 plants, in flower beds and perennial beds, for example as a filling or background plant or in a flower box. It also cuts a fine figure as a solitary shrub in larger planters. During the flowering period, it can be easily combined with other Cosmea species and is a nice partner to phlox, delphinium, dahlia and aster. This filigree perennial is also a real eye-catcher next to the bellflower, coneflower and different types of grass.
Care instructions
With
to water
Cosmea is one of the frugal flowers and makes hardly any demands on care. While young plants need a little more moisture, well-grown specimens prefer a little drier and can even cope well with short-term drought. The natural amounts of rain are completely sufficient for them. However, it is advisable to water them occasionally if it is persistent drought and high temperatures.
The soil should not dry out completely. Plants in balcony boxes or pots, on the other hand, need regular watering. However, they cannot tolerate a permanently moist bale, neither in the pot nor in the bed. It is best to choose the morning or early evening hours for watering.
Tip: Since the jewelry basket is insensitive to lime, it can be poured with both rain and tap water.
Fertilize
The cosmos is a real survivor. Even if it looks rather delicate and fragile, it can usually be planted in the bed without any additional fertilizer. Too nutrient-rich soil would only promote growth and leaf formation. This in turn would mean that the plants would be top-heavy and therefore unstable, not to mention the formation of flowers, which would be severely impaired.
Tip: If the decorative basket grows only sparsely and / or only develops a few flowers, this is often due to a location that is too dark with too little sun. To remedy this, it is advisable to transplant to a sunnier place.
Cut
The annual Cosmea does not need to be pruned as it is known from other plants. However, you can regularly remove dead flowers as well as other dead plant parts. On the one hand, this has the advantage that the plant keeps forming new flowers and, on the other hand, it grows bushier and more branched.
Overwinter
Due to the fact that the pinnate ornamental flower only grows as an annual and is therefore not hardy, it makes no sense to overwinter it. It is not necessary either, because they sow themselves. When the plants die in the first frost, their seeds are frost-resistant and overwinter on the ground. Otherwise you can sow them by hand in spring without any problems.
Propagate by sowing
Cosmos bipinnatus can only be propagated by sowing. They can be preferred on the windowsill or sowed directly in the garden, with pre-cultivation usually being the most effective. Preferred plants have a clear growth advantage over outdoor plants and bloom as early as April. The seeds can be collected from dead plants in autumn and stored in a cool and dry place until sowing.
They are found in the dry nut fruits, the so-called achenes. When collecting, it is helpful to hold a container underneath, as they fall off easily if you touch them. For seeds you have harvested yourself, you should know that the young plants obtained from them usually do not bloom in the same colors as the mother plant. Anyone who values a certain flower color must buy the appropriate seeds in stores.
Prefer
Pre-breeding is possible from around February / March. To do this, you need small pots, a seed tray or a standard mini greenhouse and a suitable substrate. In the best case, germ-free and fungus-free seed or cactus soil is used.
- First fill the respective growing container with seed compost
- Then moisten the substrate
- Spread the seeds on top
- About 3-5 seeds are calculated on a 10 cm pot
- Cover the seeds thinly with soil
- The maximum sowing depth should be 1 cm
- Grind the earth between your hands and let it trickle over the seeds
- Keep constantly moist until germination
- Avoid substrate that is too wet
- Seedlings could be attacked by fungi and die
- Now cover the seed pot with translucent foil
- Put the whole thing bright and warm
- In a place without direct sunlight
- Germination temperature ideally between 18 and 25 degrees
- Germination within 7-14 days
The young seedlings grow relatively quickly. As soon as they have developed more than one pair of leaves, they can first be separated into small pots and then transplanted to their final location in the garden after the ice saints. As already mentioned, it is best to give the jewelry basket a short period of acclimatization before planting it in its final location in the garden.
Direct sowing
Direct sowing outdoors can take place between mid / late April and mid May, both in the bed and in large pots or tubs. It is advisable to thoroughly loosen the soil before sowing. Then it is well moistened and the seeds are distributed on it. When sowing no-till in beds or tubs, a spacing of about 30 cm between the seeds is recommended. You cover them thinly with finely crumbly earth or sand, moisten the whole thing again and keep the substrate evenly moist until germination.
Watering should always be done using a watering attachment to prevent the seeds from being washed away. The seed should not dry out until germination, not even for a short time. Even if you water them again, they would no longer germinate. This is because the seeds swell up in the damp soil, which starts germination. If this process is interrupted because the substrate has dried out in the meantime, the seeds will no longer sprout because they only swell once.
Diseases: powdery mildew
Diseases rarely occur in the pinnate ornamental flower. Nevertheless, in warm and dry weather, despite optimal care, an infestation with powdery mildew can occur. Affected parts of the plant must first be removed. Mixtures of milk and water or baking soda and water are ideal for combating this, as are various plant broths for spraying. As a preventive measure, you should avoid overly dense vegetation and avoid mulching.
Pests
The jewelry basket is not only very popular with people. We show how to properly protect it from pests.
Aphids
Occasionally, aphids can appear. If there is an infestation, it can at least be reduced with a strong jet of water. Severely affected shoot tips should be cut off. Spraying agents containing rapeseed oil is also a good option. In order to counteract an infestation in the future, it is important to encourage beneficial insects to settle in the garden by creating nesting opportunities, for example in the form of insect hotels or Lacewing boxes.
Snails
Snails, especially slugs, are a major threat to the cosmos. They are primarily after the tender leaves of young plants. In this way, entire plants can fall victim to them. Slugs occur in persistently damp weather. To protect the plants, organic slug pellets can be spread during budding. Snail fences or snail collars can also be used.
