Is Cosmos A Good Cut Flower?

We are in love with cosmos. Here are some of the reasons we grow cosmos as a cut flower on our flower farm!

deep pink cosmos in the field grown as a cut flower — cosmos are good cut flowers to have in the cutting garden

I’ve always loved the soft look of cosmos growing in our Nova Scotian gardens. They are so delicate in appearance with their lacy foliage, and a good contrast to traditional foliage in a bouquet.

Cosmos is absolutely a good cut flower, and was one of our most popular fillers in our farmhouse bouquets last year. They were airy and graceful and added a wonderful soft touch to the bouquets.

They come in a variety of colors and shapes, singles and doubles, some with interesting edges. Cosmos contributed to that wild flower and casual look that we love to show in our bouquets.

Do Cosmos Last As Cut Flowers?

a pink and white cosmos flower in the cut flower garden — cut cosmos at the right stage

It is important to cut cosmos at the right stage in order for them to last as cut flowers. The best stage to harvest the blooms is when the buds are coloured but not yet opened fully. An example of this is in the picture just above.

They will continue to open up in the vase, and will have a longer vase life if they are cut in the right stage. If they are cut before the buds show colour, the buds will not open. So it is important to look closely at the stage of buds if you want the flowers to open.

If you cut the stems when the cosmos flowers are fully open they will not last as long in the bouquet, and it can be disappointing when the petals start to fall! They look very pretty at this stage however may not last as long as you would like.

I have also used cosmos just for the foliage, even before the buds have started to crack open, as I love the airy feeling and fullness of the soft leaves. In this case I was just going for the greenery, which was lovely! I did this when I ran short of good fillers last year, and the cosmos saved the day.

When Do Cosmos Flowers Bloom?

red and pink cosmos in the field — cosmos will bloom towards the end of the summer, unless sown early indoors

Cosmos are a heat loving plant and bloom mid summer for us, so our bloom time was towards the end of July. Essentially they can bloom within three months from their sowing date. By August the plants were tall and full.

To ensure blooms throughout the summer you can succession plant one month apart. I believe if we had planted earlier we would have had earlier blooms. We generally hold off on planting the heat loving plants in case of a late spring frost, however this results in our later blooming period.

Once the frost comes in September/ October our cosmos is done for the season.

Do Cosmos Come Back Every Year?

pink cosmos in the garden — cosmos is not a perennial, and the plant does not come back again after growing, but will readily reseed and return in this manner

Cosmos are an annual flower, so you need to replant each year for best success. We have had some volunteer plants which have reseeded from the previous years crop, which is always fun, however we start our new crop of seedlings indoors each year to plant out in the spring.

You can also direct sow into your garden once the risk of frost has passed. We do not use this method due to high our weed pressure in the field. As well, we have had the experience of late frosts in June, which is harmful to these tender seedlings.

We start our seedlings in soilless mix under lights around March or April. We plant them about 1/4 inch deep for best germination and place them on a heat mat until they start to poke through the soil. They remain under grow lights until ready to be hardened off and planted out. Then they are planted out into landscape fabric with burned holes 12” apart.They do really well in the landscape fabric.

Where Do Cosmos Flowers Grow Best?

pink cosmos flowers grown in the field as cut flowers — cosmos are easy flowers to grow

Cosmos are easy flowers to grow, and are great for the beginning flower farmer or gardener! They do not require a nutrient dense soil and can grow in poorer soil conditions. They have done very well in our heavy clay soil.

Cosmos prefer a sunnier location and some staking or flower netting in windy locations. We did not support our cosmos last year and some stems did end up blowing over. We are in a very windy location along the water.

I would definitely recommend cosmos for the cutting garden and flower farm. It is a wonderful accent plant, as well as can stand beautifully in a bouquet all on it’s own. It is an important flower in our farmhouse bouquets and will always have a place in our garden!

a pink cosmos and a bee — cosmos grows into late October and is a great source of food for the bees before winter

Have you ever wondered if cosmos is a good cut flower? Well wonder no more, as it absolutely is! If you have grown cosmos for cutting, be sure to leave a comment below to share your experience!