With an amazing chocolate scent on hot, sunny days, Cosmos 'Choca Mocha' delights with dark reddish black blooms floating tall above delicate green leaves.
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Cosmos 'Choca Mocha' is commonly called the ‘Chocolate Cosmos’, as it has the subtle benefit of a chocolate-scented flower. The flower colour is distinct colour of dark chocolate with the blooms most fragrant on a warm, sunny day. This compact and non-invasive perennial flowers from early Spring through to Autumn, even on very young plants. In warmer climates Cosmos 'Choca Mocha' may continue slower flowering in Winter while holding its soft green foliage in a neat and tidy 30cm shrub, but in colder climates the plant will retreat into dormancy until its tuber warms again in Spring.
A mass-planting of Cosmos 'Choca Mocha' in sunny garden beds as a second row behind low, edging plants offers wonderful, breezy movement and rich colour and scent, particularly along walkways. Planting alone along paths, or in pots positioned throughout your sunny outdoor space, are also excellent uses. Larger tubs of Cosmos 'Choca Mocha' are a delightful talking point in outdoor rooms. The long-stemmed, broadly petalled starry blooms make lovely little cut flower posies.
'Choca Mocha' has needs similar to most perennials, prepare your garden soil or potting mix by working in your preferred compost in a sunny position where regular watering is ensured. In our experience, Cosmos 'Choca Mocha' remains pest and disease free. Pinch off the spent flower heads is not necessary but will promote new blooms and keep the plant tidier.
In warmer regions, as Winter takes hold and flowering slows, you can prune the plant back quite low. Don't be concerned when the plant does not shoot immediately; it has only entered dormancy. As the weather warms and new growth appears, apply your preferred slow-release fertiliser to help on its way.
In cooler regions, Cosmos 'Choca Mocha' will retreat to a dormant tuber to rest. If your garden bed or container is free draining, you can leave the tuber in the soil or mix to grow again in Spring, or you can lift and store the tuber until you are ready to plant again once the cold snaps have passed.
Cosmos atrosanguineus, is native to Mexico and some parts of the southwestern United States. It grows in open grasslands as a small shrub to 60 cm in height with long-stemmed flowers waving in the wind. Cosmos 'Choca Mocha' comes from extensive breeding trials resulting in multi-branching, compact, abundant flowering shrub.
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