Cosmos Cupcakes Blush

A cosmos where the petals have fused into a shallow cup instead of opening flat. 'Cupcakes Blush' gives bowl-shaped flowers in the palest pink, some fading almost to white, held on plants of a metre or more.

Expect a proportion of ordinary single flowers among the cupped ones. That is normal for the Cupcakes strain and not a fault in the seed. Most growers find the mix of forms more interesting than a uniform row would be.

It is frost-tender, so raise it under cover and hold the plants back until the end of May. After that it needs only sun, poor-to-average soil and constant picking. The more stems you take, the more it produces, right through until the first frost knocks it over.