About The River

Monday, March 2, 2026

Wisconsin Cotton

 

 

This growing adventure starts back in the winter of 2024, when my friend L gifted me a package of cotton with seeds for my December birthday. She and her husband had gone on a road trip to the South. On her way home to Wisconsin she picked me up my birthday gift. The challenge was, Carla can you grow cotton?

In early June of 2025 I placed the cotton seed ball in to a big pot in my greenhouse. My hope was the greenhouse would replicate enough southern heat to trick the cotton into thinking it was not in Wisconsin, but really in its home of Missouri. 

Look, we have growth. 

 

Cotton Flowers


The excitement of having cotton flowers, oh boy, one step closer to having Wisconsin cotton.

Late autumn was setting in and I needed to button up the greenhouse. I brought in all the plants I planned to try to save during the winter. The cotton was one of them. We still had to make it to harvest.






December 2025, it is looking good, two pods of cotton have formed and will soon be ready for harvest. One for my friend L and one for me.


 Wisconsin cotton boll sitting in my window sill. I started the cotton in early June and harvested two stems in mid December. 

It worked. 

 ♥

Carla 


10 comments:

  1. Wait just a cotton picking minute! This is Amazing!! You must truly have a green thumb! Now, what will you do with all your lovely cotton? Use the cotton balls for removing makeup? Or save them and weave them into something lovely someday? (I know nothing about how to do that, but it sounds good). Thank you for sharing your cotton story with us!! Just don't let those "cotton balls get rotten", or you won't get "very much cotton" in those old cotton fields back home... LOL. Have a lovely day!!

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  2. Well you are definitely gifted in the growing department : ) Just last year I discovered there's a field of cotton growing very nearby us. I'd never seen it in all the years we've been here but it was so pretty. I love the way cotton looks when it blooms. Have a nice week!

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  3. YAY for your success in growing cotton in Wisconsin. Once driving through West Virginia we came across fields of it. It was white everywhere. So cool. Janice

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  4. This is so neat! I love that you grew cotton in Wisconsin!! It's such a pretty flower and the cotton is so cool looking. Great job!!

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  5. This is so exciting Carla. Way to go....We have cotton fields about 40 miles West of us and I always enjoy driving past them... The white cotton atop the plants is so pretty to see. When I think about the growing of cotton, I think about how God meets our needs in ways that we seldomly think of.

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  6. Carla you have the magic touch. I think you can grow just about anything. I love the flowers that come on the cotton plant so pretty. Congrats on your Wisconsin cotton. Have a great week. Hugs. Kris

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  7. That is super cool!The cotton flowers are so pretty too!What are you doing with your cotton?

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  8. Carla, this is SO cool! I've never actually seen this plant in person before. Good job on keeping it warm and happy.

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  9. That is so cool, Carla. And it worked cause your hands are magic and love all things gardening. I've never seen a cotton flower before. I can't believe it started with a little cotton seed and grew into a cotton ball! You and your friend must be pleased. I loved this story, Carla. It looks so pretty in the little blue vase on your window sill.

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  10. Oh wow! That is exciting to see. I don't think I have ever seen a cotton plant.

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High Fives from Wisconsin!