My Late-Blooming Cosmos

Cosmos remind me of wildflowers. Their delicate, fern-like leaves and blooms take me back to when we lived in England near untamed English gardens. I like their texture and color variations.

My mom taught me about cosmos. At her house, they were planted in with the wild dill right by the driveway near her deck and swamp cooler. Until I learned otherwise, it was difficult to tell the difference between baby cosmos and baby dill. We just let them both grow.

When my husband and I bought our first home in Utah, one of the first transplants my mom gave me was a bucket full of dill and cosmos. They both reseed themselves every year. They bloomed in my front flower garden throughout the summer and into the fall for the seven years we lived there. I've missed them the four plus years we've been here.

Very early this year, I planted these from seed. Now it's nearing the end of summer, they are finally blooming. What took them so long? You could blame the location-- I planted them in the shade. You could blame the soil-- they like to be undernourished and I planted them in a healthy place. You could blame the water ballooners-- I planted them near our outside faucet and the children filled up a lot of water balloons and stomped on a few cosmos because they "looked like weeds." You could blame the rain-- cosmos are a drought-resistant plant and thrive with low water and we had a wet year. It's easy to find reasons to explain why they bloomed late. Whatever the reasons, I'm just glad they bloomed.