Take cosmos cuttings

Have you ever seen anything more beautiful? Cosmos waft beautifully, their foliage smells like summer, and they produce more flowers more square metre than any other plant I know.

The great thing is that they are not only prolific as plants but they are generous with cuttings. There are some plants that have roots that grow out of the stems if they are in contact with soil. I am sure there are lots of plants that do this, but I only know of two - tomatoes and cosmos. Both benefit from being dug in very deeply when you are planting out.

If you have a look at the stems of cosmos, you will see little bumps on the stem. These are called root initials or adventitious roots. And who doesn’t love an adventuring root?

If the bumps don’t touch soil. then they will stay just bumps. However, they are ready to go so if you put the stem in a glass of water or in a flower bed, they will put on growth quickly. You will get better and faster plants if you start with a cutting that has already got its roots down, you might just need to hunt around for them. Even though I stake my cosmos quite carefully, there are still the lower branches that head out horizontally.

This video is of how to break the cuttings off the parent plant and how to plant them out. Do try and choose the ones with roots as they will take quicker. The ones with bumps will wilt alarmingly but if you keep them watered, I promise they will get going.

I moved my cuttings at the beginning of September and I do hope to get flowers in my courtyard by the end of the month. Cosmos is known as the Mexican aster and it is a hot weather plant so a south facing trough will give them the best chance getting late summer heat and they’ll go on til the first frosts. They are annuals though so they won’t over-winter sadly.