Emily, I am new with Cosmos. I have the Sonata mixture as well as the Cosmic mixture. I have fallen totally in love with the Cosmics, however, the Sonata........I believe they have potential, but here in Missouri, we are being attacked by swarms of some kind of green colored beetle that is completely impossible to control. They are completly destroying my Sonatas, as well as Margolds and Cannas are all being devoured. These beetles group together, many of them climbing on top of each other (like a bug orgy). I have yet to find out what they are. They are everywhere!

I would describe some of my sonatas as "ratty" also, however I believe this appearance is due to this bug invasion. Have you noticed any bugs on yours? Perhaps that is the problem?

Just thought I'd try to help!

Ellen, have you tried Neem oil? Many stores seem to be carrying it now. Bugs generally will not feed on plants sprayed with it.

Well so far my picotee cosmos have been dissapointing. Small and with a sort of "muddy" color and not very pretty striped/bicolored etc. I'll give them a little longer before I give them a "thumbs down" though. :)

Paul, I havent heard of this oil, something new? I recently heard of folks here who are having serious problems with these beetles have found this product called "Bag O Bug" or "Bug O Bag" or something like that, and this thing works great for attracting these beetles. They have told me that they will get millions of these bugs in this bag. However, there are still plenty of bugs attacking the plants. I can see how the bag would work to attract the insects, but without protecting the plant with something, they will still be on them. I'm sure it helps to keep the population down though. Apparently, these bags have something in them that attracts the insects. I havent checked into this yet, I just heard of it a few days ago. Anyone know what it may be?

My Sonata blooms dont last long. They open up and look georgous, and by the next day the bugs have them destroyed. I just love the white ones.

I have recently gotten interested in doing cut flowers, and would love to see these white blooms in a vase soon! They pink and Carmine colors get attacked by these beetles as well. However, the Cosmic ones are untouched by them.

My sonata cosmos did nothing at all this year, they didn't even grow bigger, just stayed the same size as when I planted them. I don't know why, as I've grown them in years past and they've been great. But, I also grew some seashells and sensation cosmos, and these did much better. Especially the sensation type. It's been very hot here, over 90 and no rain, but they still are blooming and looking good.

my red dwarf cosmos... I forget the variety. Store bought seed pack... i was on a tight buget this year and nos eed catologs arrived. Stems initially grew tall and now they look somewhat like the 'lollipop' trees that my neighbor planted. The red color bleeds out if water comes in contact with the petals, so now whenever it rains they turn orange.

I am growing the Cosmic Orange variety of Cosmos this summer and so far they have been beautiful. A very nice orange color on a pretty decent sized blossom. My neighbors have been inquiring about them and they are growing accidentally. I planned on growing them in containers since I don't have much of a yard but after the seedlings came up I decided to plant them out in what little yard I have because everyone told me they were too big to grown in containers. Well they were right, they are big/tall but to my suprise they are growing very nicely in the side area of my yard. Who knew!

Cosmic Cosmos are the bomb! I have orange and my Mom has both the orange and yellow and I've already hit her up for the yellow seeds.
Let's see what won't I buy next year, yep, lobelia but I think we've already went over that, lol.
Ah! I bought silver waves and I will NEVER do it again. They look like crude in a container but so-so in the ground.

NOTICE: when using attractants, pheromones and such, be for warned that Pheromones may increase your problem more then alleviate it. The scent can be detected miles away, thusly attracting bugs from the nether regions of your city. Yes, maybe sooner or later you will end up with them in the collector, however in the meantime they can be mating and depositing young in your yard and garden space, elevating your population for next season.. IT is much more beneficial to use the milky spore or other such broadcast products to eliminate your beetle populations for good and all.

I take it that this "Neem" oil is a pheromone that was mentioned?

I dont know what this beetle is, but I have never seen infestations of them like this and neither has anyone else. I havent taken the time to figure out what they are, as I have been busy on other projects. They are destroying many of my Cannas, marigolds and now the cosmos, and a few dahlias, but most plants are left alone. I need to post a photo and find out what they are. Insecticides are NOT effective, for me or anyone else I have spoken to. I wonder if our drought conditions have something to do with them being here by the jillions. I should take the time to find out.........

Black Penny was a huge disappointment for me. So pretty on the seed package. Once again, deceived by pretty photo! Flower was barely detectable.

Ellen, nah neem oil isn't a pheromone. It is oil from a neem tree that will not harm other animals but causes problems for many plant eating insects. Its primary action is to disrupt an insect's life cycle -- particularly the molts which occur as an insect 'grows up'. Many insects will refuse to feed on plants with this oil on them. Now I do not know if the beetles would be affected [especially as they are already adults] but it might be worth a go.

It was such a strange year for people! Things that grew SO well for them before just didn't seem to take off at all. Tomatoes in particular. Maybe the sun, heat, cool rain ect didn't have optimum timing for some plants. I know my tomatoes sucked. Many said some things were merely so-so. BUt I guess that is what keeps us gardening. All the challenges, trial and error. Never static!

Looks like Japanese Beetles have made it to MO. So sorry. They are awful pests.

So sorry to the original poster but wanted to put my 2 cents in about the blasted japanese beetles. 2 years ago I had a little beetle problem. Last year I used the beetle traps which do use the phermones to attract beetles. This year I used the traps and was emptying the bags on a daily basis. I was over run with jap beetles. There has got to be a better answer than attracting more beetles so Im going to try Pauls neem oil.

As a side note: I have heard that four o clocks are effective in killing jap beetle young. Meaning if they feed on the four o clocks they cant produce viable babies. Only problem I noticed was they enjoyed feeding on my roses and cannas more than the four o clocks.

I just read recently that if you plant chives next to roses, the JBs will stay away because of the smell. I just moved my chives away from the house (where I couldn't STAND the onion-smell any longer even though I liked the 'ornamental' look of the chive plant itself). Divided a good-sized plant into about 10 divisions and planted them in between my rose bushes. I didn't have a HUGE JB problem, but there were a few. Maybe this will solve the problem.

I've never seen japanese beetles eat cosmos before. All of mine have been beautiful, dwarf orange, dwarf red, picotee, gazebo, seashells, daydream, sensation, sonata, tetra versailles, candy stripe, aand I've had problems with japanese beetles in the past.
Tried a new idea to hault the JB this year that I read about. 4 o'clocks. Apparently japanese beetles love the leaves of the 4 o'clock but they are poisonous to them. It was said to plant them around and near your roses. The beetles will eat a leaf or two of the 4 o'clock and leave the roses alone and die in the process. Sounded good to be since my idea of a japanese beetles is death to you.
Well, it works. Found a few leaves eaten by them on the 4 o'clocks and nothing on the roses or anything else. Found lots of dead ones around the 4 oclock on the ground and after about 3 weeks of seeing japanese beetles, didn't see any the rest of the summer. Give them a try. Even though my 4 o'clocks didn't grow well, they did bloom some, the purpose of keeping the beetles away worked. These plants have a permenent home in my yeard every year now.

Are the four o'clocks easy to grow from seed? As in scatter seeds of them around target plants?

Japanese beetles have a season and then they are gone. They didn't bother either of my cosmos- cosmic orange like you mentioned or bright lights

they are brutal on grape leaves and it's cousin porcelain berry vine.

I read on GW that a powder applied to the lawn called milky spore is supposed to help wipe them out as larvae before they turn to beetles but it takes 3 yrs to see the effects since it takes that long for them to morph to beetles. people that used it said the effect was limited.

I am actually making plant purchase decisions based on what the bugs don't eat. they don't eat my calla lily! Caladium, EE, ... Aroids are apparently not tasty!

Karen

linnea56 - I just threw my 4 o'clock seeds in the flower bed and raked the soil around a bit. they came up just fine.

cosmos get very "leggy" if you fertilize them or their soil is too rich!

4 o'clocks are bushy plants - give them room (like 12-18" between plants). They are charming in their own right - fragrant and come in many colors including bicolors. If using beetle traps, put them on the edge of your property from which the prevailing winds come. The beetles sail in on the wind and get to the traps before they get to your property.
Milky spore works like a charm but needs time to spread. You put it on your lawn and DON'T treat the lawn with grub killer. The spore infests the beetle grubs and when the beetles die more spores spread in the ground. It works best if you can persuade your neighbors to treat their lawns too - or allow you to treat them. Given a few years it will spread through the neighborhood and can make a big difference. We rarely get beetles up here because the people around here treated their lawns since the milky spore disease was manufactured in our town.
Be aware that Japanese beetles are not going to be a one time affair. Once they arrive, you'll be fighting them year after year.

some seasons i have trouble with my cosmos.....we have hords of cucumber beetles here .....and they are ravenous creatures.....and difficult to get rid of..

In my area - the Japanese Beetles are only here for about a month - mid June to mid July. I have just learned to enjoy the roses prior to that then deadhead them and even do a severe pruning if need be. By the time the new foilage and buds are formed the beetles are gone and I have the roses for the rest of they year. Same with my hollyhocks - I will enjoy most of the bloom and when they start attacking them - I cut the stalks back and sometimes get a second smaller bloom later in the season. I do alot of handpicking of them - always have a container of water and dish soap and put the container underneath the beetle/beetles and use the lid or even my hands and knock the beetles into the jar - put the lip on and then shake or swirl it - the beetles die. They are a mess - thats for sure. I have also learned the very BEST Bag-o-Bug is the one in SOMEONE elses yard - preferbably a couple of houses away. NEVER put them directly in your garden - if you feel you must have them - put it as far away from your plants as possible.

As for the original question - I would love to just get cosmos to grow for me. I LOVE the flowers and want them in my garden however I am learning to accept the fact that not EVERY flower will do well in my zone/soil so will work with what does best for me. I DO know they grow down here because they are used for the roadside and median plantings by the DOT so will continue to try.....

Lynne