Birthday Flowers: Cosmos

This year we're celebrating life in the roaring twenties, and birthday flowers are a big part of that celebration! Birthday flowers refer to the flowers that have come to be associated with the month in which a person was born. The flowers have symbolic meanings attached to them (Floriography means communicating a message through the flowers given to another person). For some flowers, the color of the flower may telegraph additional meaning. 

Chocolate Cosmos (C. astrosanguineus) from Mexico - smells like chocolate!
Photo by Björn Appel

The birth flowers for October include cosmos and marigold. As much as I love marigold (a favorite flower for dyeing fabric a beautiful shade of yellow), I am choosing to focus on cosmos. The name comes from the Greek word "kosmos", which means “world”, “order” or “a harmonious arrangement”. The cosmos flower has very neatly ordered petals, reflecting the order and harmony of the universe, or the cosmos. In Victorian times, the meaning also included joy in life and love. As with other flowers, the color of the cosmos flower can also convey meaning.

• Red - love and passion
• Chocolate brown - balance, congruence, and order amongst chaos
• Yellow and orange - friendship (or slighted love)
• White - faithfulness and devotion in romantic love, and purity
• Pink and purple - a mother's love, kisses, and hugs

Cosmos flourishes in summer and fall, producing brightly colored, 3-5 inch blossoms, depending on the variety. Cosmos are drought tolerant, attract pollinators, and are easy to grow in a sunny location with poor, but well-drained soil. Cosmos are native to Mexico, and were used medicinally in Central America and Brazil to treat malaria, as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, and in ointments and oils to soothe eczema. In South America, orange and pink blossoms are used to dye cloth in bright colors.