Double Click Snow Puff Cosmos Plants

Cosmos Double Click Snow Puff

Cosmos Snow Puff can reach 100 cms which makes it well suited for planting a little way back in a border. It won't disappoint you there as it is a beautiful plant with foliage that sets off flowers reaching 8 cms in diameter. Keep it accessible however as like all annual cosmos it is a superb cutting flower, bearing a remarkable number of its distinctive pure white, ruffled, double snowball like flowers all summer. Browse our range of cosmos seedlings.

Annual Cosmos pay tremendous dividends. A simple investment of sun and water yields a non-stop display until the first frosts. Cosmos Snow Puff makes a striking feature planted in a group by itself, but we think it looks as good mixed with other double cosmos such as Rose Bon Bon. It also makes a very effective gap filler And is a must if you have a cutting bed. The leaves are lovely and from May/June depending on when you plant, Cosmos Snow Puff sends forth a seemingly unending stream of flowers. A very few plants will literally give you buckets of flowers. Finally, if you have containers that won't blow over, it does very well there too - try it with one of the tall verbenas...

If Cosmos Snow Puff is cut for use indoors or deadheaded (as its blooms begin to fade), it will carry on flowering all summer until the first frosts. There is probably not another plant family that flowers as hard for as long. Cutting helps that process and as cosmos is a very good cut flower - lasting 7-10 days in water, planting a patch somewhere is simply essential.

Cosmos Double Click Snow Puff Features:

• Type: Half-hardy Annual
• Flowers: Double, ruffled up to 8cms across
• Colour: Pure White
• Height: 90-100 cms

Plant Cosmos Double Click Snow Puff seedlings in well prepared, moist soil that ideally was enriched with a little organic matter the previous autumn. Not too much as Cosmos flower better if the soil is not overly rich. Water well after planting and for at least a week after that just to make sure they establish well.

Cosmos also grow very well in containers but remember that they can reach 100 cms in ideal conditions so we would suggest using pot sizes of at least 5 Litres and preferably a bit more. Any general purpose compost will do here.

The main requirements are that your plants have enough light and water - they grow very fast and flower hugely through summer so moisture is important. They can cope with a little shade but flower better in full sun. In general, they need an absolute minimum of 4 hours direct light a day, but 6-8 hours would be better.

Because you are buying seedlings, you can plant your cosmos into their final flowering positions immediately. Space your plants 35-50 cm apart and (in a bed) plant them in drifts of rather than singly. They will either need a 90 cms cane per plant (which should be pushed in about 30 cms deep and about 5 cm from a plant) or a support made of twine or pea/bean netting. This should be stretched between canes about 40 cms above ground level and the cosmos can then grow through it. It is not pretty at first but the plants disguise it very quickly and it is an effective solution (if you are anti-plastic, you can also make a cat's cradle of twine between canes around the outside of the planting). Just don't plant a group that is so big you can't reach the middle...

As flowers develop cut them or dead head when they are over and your cosmos will carry on flowering all summer long. A well-grown plant can quite literally produce a hundred flowers or so in a season.

To maintain flower quality and size, you can use a high potash and phosphate fertiliser every fortnight throughout summer Home-made comfrey tea is perfect or one of the specialised tomato fertilisers will do very well.