Cosmos Lemonade

A cosmos in soft primrose-lemon, which is a colour the genus did not offer at all until recently. 'Lemonade' opens a clear pale yellow and fades towards cream as the flower ages, so a single plant carries both shades at once.

It is shorter and better branched than the tall Sensation types, making a bushy plant around three-quarters of a metre that rarely needs staking. That suits a smaller garden or a pot far better than the metre-and-a-half varieties.

Like all cosmos it flowers harder the more you cut it, and it will run until the first frost knocks it over. Frost-tender, so hold the plants back until the end of May.