Does the Plant Cosmos Grow in CA?

Cosmos Most Often Planted In The United States

• Two varieties of three cosmos plants commonly grown in California gardens are natives of Mexico that can also be found in the meadows and bushy areas of parts of Central America and the southern United States. Both garden cosmos (cosmos bipinnatus) and yellow cosmos (cosmos sulphureus) are plentiful in their natural home. Chocolate or black cosmos (cosmos atrosanguineus) have been considered extinct in the Mexican wild lands for some time. The good news is, chocolate cosmos are being reintroduced to the Mexican countryside.

Garden Cosmos

• The garden cosmos is also know as the Mexican aster. Its simple leaves are thin and threadlike on stems that are upright and spindly. This easy-growing plant can reach from 1 to 6 feet high, sprawling from 2 to 3 feet wide. The garden cosmos will provide you with showy flowers in a variety of solid and mixed shades of dark rose, purple, pink and white. Its blooms are daisylike and petals are evenly spaced, growing 2 to 3 inches wide. This annual grows in all U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zones. It loves sun, grows well in poor soil with moderate watering and is drought tolerant.

Yellow Cosmos

• Yellow cosmos is an easy-care plant that grows upright from 4 to 7 feet high. Its stems are long and thin with leaves that are narrow and long with hairy margins. The flowers of the yellow cosmos plant come in sunny shades of yellow, orange or red. It loves living in the sunshine, producing many more blooms than if grown in shady areas. It grows best in well-drained soil with moderate watering, but is drought tolerant and does not need a lot of fertilizer or special care. This plant grows best in USDA zones 5 through 10.

Chocolate Cosmos

• Chocolate cosmos is a perennial plant with dark-reddish brown to nearly black single flowers that smell like chocolate. It grows in an open form with bright green foliage on long, thin, reddish brown stems. Chocolate cosmos reaches to about 30 inches high. It is a tender plant that may need to be overwinter indoors when grown in areas where is it not hardy. It likes full sun and moist, well-drained soil with mulch added during the fall season. This cosmos is hardy in USDA zones 7 through 11.