Cosmos

[Erroll 49]

I have just returned from a week's fishing trip to the Natal Midlands and on my drive back I noticed that the Cosmos flowers have started appearing. Down here these flowers have always been the herald that Winter is on its way - appearing in early Autumn and creating quite spectacular fields of colour all along the highways and byways of the Highveld.

I did a bit of reading up and discovered that they are originally from Mexico, and were introduced to South Africa around the early 1900's. I also see they are fairly widespread in the US and I was wondering if they are also considered as early indicators of Winter over there? (I am assuming that they also flower in the US Autumn)

Edited March 14, 2021 by Erroll

[wolfriverjoe 1,340]

I'm not familiar with those. Wisconsin may be too far north for them (approx 44 latitude).

Up here, we're seeing the first signs of spring. 

Potholes in the roads, dog poop on the lawns as the snow melts and reveals it, and motorcycles out and about.

[oldwomanc6 38]

We in the Mid-Atlantic have cosmos here.

I don't know where they originated from, but they use them to seed the highway medians, so they don't have to mow as much.

Very pretty flowers.

[headoverheels 291]

One of my wife's favorite flowers.  I've never seen them in the wild, but have them in the garden here in northern California.

 

[Erroll 49]

8 hours ago, oldwomanc6 said:

We in the Mid-Atlantic have cosmos here.

From Wikipedia:-

Cosmos species are native to scrub and meadowland in Mexico where most of the species occur. In the United States, some varieties may be found as far north as the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, but the range also extends through Central America to South America as far south as Paraguay^{[citation needed]}. One species, C. bipinnatus, is naturalized across much of the eastern United States and eastern Canada.^[5]

It is also widespread over the high eastern plains of South Africa, where it was introduced via contaminated horsefeed during the Anglo-Boer War.^[6]

[wolfriverjoe 1,340]

Interesting that it's an 'invasive' species.

Is it considered a 'good thing' or a 'bad thing' in South Africa?

We have a lot of that here in the US. For a variety of reasons, including seeds being carried in feed and subsequently pooped out, there are 'foreign' plants in areas they don't really belong.
Some are benign, some are quite destructive. They overtake an area and kill off the native species.

There's a nature center near me that uses goats to help control this.

https://1000islandsenvironmentalcenter.org/1000-islands-goat-browsing-or-lets-do-munch/

[Erroll 49]

4 hours ago, wolfriverjoe said:

Is it considered a 'good thing' or a 'bad thing' in South Africa?

I don't rightly know. I have heard maize farmers refer to it as  'mielie pes', or "maize pest", but I have seen cattle graze on it too.

It is certainly invasive, especially on fallow land. Some of the cosmos fields are vast!