There are 23,000 species in the Compositae or, much more fun to say, Asteraceae family – including coneflowers (Echinacea), sunflowers (Helianthus), and, of course, Asters. Many of them are inspiring pollinators to do the happy dance right now.
This little fellow is as happy as a bee in cosmos; Cosmos bipinnatus, to be precise. It makes me happy just to watch.
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I always have cosmos in my garden, and towards the end of the season I leave the seed heads and the goldfinches love them.
Linda, I wish I could have cosmos, as they're amongs my favourites from childhood. But the front garden is too shady. When seeded there, the seedlings end up maybe 4" (yes, 4 inches) high and if I'm lucky have one tiny flower. In the back, they make a bushel of leaves and not many flowers, as the soil is too rich. Really, these grow best in lean soil… or the cracks in the sidewalk.
Everytime I see someone's Cosmos, I am swept with regret that I didn't plant any again THIS summer. They're so graceful.
Such a reliable plant! It reminds me of my childhood.
My double-flowered cosmos have taken advantage of the manure (too much?) applied to the garden this spring and have grown into giants – 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide. I keep hacking away at them to give the nearby baby roses and oriental lilies a chance at sun!
Asteraceae is my favorite family of flowers…and the cosmos is up there near the top of beauties! For some reason they didn't sprout this year…sigh! gail