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Common Name: chocolate cosmos Type: Herbaceous perennial Family: Asteraceae Native Range: Mexico Zone: 7 to 9 Height: 2.00 to 3.00 feet Spread: 1.00 to 2.00 feet Bloom Time: June to September Bloom Description: Brownish-red Sun: Full sun Water: Dry to medium Maintenance: Medium Suggested Use: Annual Flower: Showy Attracts: Butterflies Tolerate: Drought Garden locations

Culture Grow in average, moderately fertile, medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun. Tolerates dryish soils. Not winter hardy to the St. Louis area where tubers should be lifted in fall (as with dahlias) and stored indoors over winter.

Noteworthy Characteristics Cosmos atrosanguineus, commonly called chocolate cosmos, is a tuberous-rooted, tender perennial that features brownish-red flowers (to 1.5") with a chocolate scent atop slender 2-3' stems from early summer to fall. Compound, dark green leaves are pinnately divided into ovate to lance-shaped segments. Also commonly called black cosmos.



Genus name comes from the Greek word kosmos meaning beautiful.



Specific epithet means dark blood-red.

Problems No serious insect or disease problems. Rootstocks may rot in wet soils. Not winter hardy to St. Louis.