“Chocolate cosmos” Cosmos atrosanguineus
The divine chocolatey smell from these long stemmed perennial plants
makes them worth growing even though they are not edible.
Related to Dahlia, they form tubers which can be dug and
stored over winters unless one has excellent draining soils in
which case they can be left in the garden. Chocolate cosmos do
well as a tub plant and seedlings can be grown together to form
a group. Because the tubers are only finger sized they can dry
out if kept in too warm and low-humidity places so check on
them periodicly and if shrunken, pot them up in damp potting
mix. Each seedling is slightly variable in smell, leaf shape,
flower colour and stem length so if you grow a really good
specimen it can be propagated by tubers. Plants like fertile soil
so keep them growing until they are in full flower. Cutting spent
flowers off prolongs the flowering season.
Approximate minimum seed count per pack
10 seeds/packet (Limited supply)
Germination
Sow in late winter or spring at room temperature and pot up into
final pot or position once the seedlings are around 2 months old.
If sown in late summer or early autumn the plants will only
develop small tubers which when dormant in winter should be
left in their containers and kept slightly damp throughout winter
until they reshoot in spring.