| Author | Content |
adinamiti
Balotesti
Romania
October 30, 2012 3:03 AM Post #9319831
| Carrie, thanks for a very informative and lovely article! I love cosmos and I have it in my garden too. Somehow the normal cosmos dissapeared, but I still have the orange one.
Adina |
CLScott
Calgary
Canada
October 30, 2012 7:04 AM Post #9320002
| Thanks for the good article on Cosmos.
They are excellent late summer flowers.
The birds love the seeds so I sow them in pots--
with a clear plastic bag over to keep the seeds safe. |
carrielamont
Euless, TX (Zone 8a)
October 30, 2012 7:42 AM Post #9320065
| Adina, I believe that orange cosmos is hardier in general and a more reliable reseeder.
Ms. Scott, I'm having trouble with the visual... you sow them in pots with a plastic bag over when you sow them so birds don't eat the seeds you sowed? Cosmos seeds aren't don't need light to germinate so it's fine to cover them with 1/4" of loose soil; will that be enough to keep the birds away? If you're saving the ripening seed for birds when they mature in the fall, I need more information and I'm completely confused.
Thank you for your comments, both of you. |
CLScott
Calgary
Canada
October 30, 2012 7:35 PM Post #9320654
| Just so the birds and other squirrels don't take the seeds:
I sow them onto large containers and pull a large clear plastic garbage bag
down over the container--fasten with clothes pins on the rim of the container.
Sometimes use a stick or ground staples just so bag does not blow away in wind.
Yes, the seeds are covered with soil
but the birds and squirrels scratch them out.
The bag helps to keep the soil moist also, but allows light for when they sprout.
Sort of large size winter sowing.
I'll take a picture when I sow them again next year. |
carrielamont
Euless, TX (Zone 8a)
October 31, 2012 6:39 AM Post #9320952
| Oh, I understand. Do you let them self-seed for next year, ever? |
CLScott
Calgary
Canada
October 31, 2012 8:41 AM Post #9321072
| Usually I collect the seeds because the birds will take them.
For some reason they are a real favorite of the birds here. |
carrielamont
Euless, TX (Zone 8a)
October 31, 2012 12:28 PM Post #9321236
| Ah, interesting. I wonder what variety you're growing? If they're somehow tastier than ordinary seeds, or maybe your birds are hungrier...? |
CLScott
Calgary
Canada
November 1, 2012 9:57 AM Post #9321968
| I grow a good variety----but birds always like them all.
|
carrielamont
Euless, TX (Zone 8a)
November 1, 2012 10:44 AM Post #9321986
| Good taste, those birds have. |
