The edge of our yard and the beginning of the field - it's not 'neat', because my husband digs right up next to the yard; next year I'd like to till it and plant it all to cosmos - are these late blooming flowers?...should I plant earlier spring wild flowers with the seed? Picture below - I took this yesterday of somebody's yard that has lots and lots of flowers every year. These ARE Cosmos aren't they?



Had to show off my boys - took this picture yesterday by the river.

Yes, those are cosmos ! Gorgeous !

Where are the boys? There's no picture.

Those are Cosmos indeed! Beautiful!
I'm not sure that I would call them late bloomers. They take a bit of time to get their height and then they bloom right up to killing frost if you keep them deadheaded. Wow...I sure wouldn't want the job of deadheading the patch in your picture...

Deb - boys, the picture is there, don't you see it, right under the cosmos picture.

You have to deadhead cosmos? Do you think this lady does? Is there a type of wildflower that would be good here that would be minimal to NO care?

how does one go about collecting cosmos seeds?

Patty, the picture of your kids is showing as a small empty square with a red "X" in the middle.
Anyone else seeing that?
I wouldn't think that deadheading cosmos would be an issue in an area that big.
Patty, you've got paradise there ! Really something !

Netty, I'm not disagreeing with you about the deadheading. I do it too, because I'm a patio gardener.
I just meant that out here cosmos are planted along our freeways, and no one ever deadheads.
In other words, they are treated as wildflowers when used in a big area planting. (Here).

Patty, did you know that there are cosmos called "Bright Lights" that are reds and oranges? They look like sunshine in the breeze. Very Van Gogh, especially when mingled with white cosmos.

i have a big pach of cosmos bright lights,when the flowers start to die off, i go out every morning and pick the seeds off, i can fill up a couple of papper lunch gags by the end of the season, then next spring i just toss the seeds back in there spot!

And you could throw in some California poppies and coreopsis too.