Gift that became an obsession — Cosmos

Someone gave me Cosmos as a birthday gift and I barely knew what it was. Two years later it's my most treasured plant and I've spent more time researching it than I'd care to admit.

The key discovery was avoiding any fertiliser which would favour grasses over flowers — once that clicked, the plant transformed. self-seeding and naturalising without annual replanting is what gets mentioned every time anyone visits. I keep it in a naturalistic border at the edge of a garden which works perfectly. peak flowering from early to midsummer is when I understand why this plant has such devoted followers. annual weed competition overwhelming slow-establishing flowers is the one ongoing challenge but it's worth the effort.