Southern Utah Gardening: Zinnias, a favorite summer flower
Gardeners aren’t typically a lazy bunch — quite the opposite. But all of us, at some time of the season (the busiest time, most likely), just want our plants to be, well, low maintenance. Enter zinnias!
Zinnias are so reliable that they can be largely ignored and still continue to bloom magnificently. Zinnias like the heat, they like it dry, and they have few pests. This isn’t license to disregard these reliable plants. With a little care, you can have blooms of nearly every color from the early summer through the fall.
What is there to growing zinnias? The essentials can be summed up in one sentence: Give zinnias as much sun as possible, water deeply, and disturb the roots as little as possible.
Sow seeds directly in the garden after the last frost date up to the first of July. Space bush zinnias 4 to 6 inches apart and medium sized zinnias 8 to 10 inches apart, and give the taller varieties a good 12 to 15 inches all around.
A bed of zinnias will give you summer-long blooms, but here’s a note of caution: Don’t plant zinnias too close together, because they need good air circulation around them. As natives of Mexico, zinnias are naturally lovers of heat and sun. Too much overhead watering, dampness, or rain and the dreaded gray spots of powdery mildew will appear. Powdery mildew doesn’t seem to affect the plant’s flower production; nevertheless, providing plants with enough room for air to circulate can slow the spread of mildew. The All America Selection winners Profusion Orange and Profusion Cherry are highly resistant to mildew and other foliar diseases.
Because zinnias come in so many sizes, you may use them as border plants, in clusters, or even in pots. Some of the small varieties have thin leaves. The larger varieties have elliptical leaves. One type of small zinnia with thin, stellate foliage is Crystal White. Stunning!
Crystal White has daisylike flowers, but zinnia flowers take on other shapes as well. There are the dahlia-flowered zinnias, so called because of the resemblance of their inflorescence to that of the dahlia. There are also semi-ruffled (my favorites) blooms, double and single blooms, cactus-flowering types, and scabiosa types. Some flowers look like pincushions, others like sea anemones. Regardless of the type, once they’ve started, zinnias will bloom continually through the summer.
Zinnia plants in size from Thumbelina at 6 inches, to the 20-inch Lilliput types, to the giants that may stretch to 4 feet tall. Giant Double Mix is the tall grower with huge flower heads that seem ungainly but perch on amazingly strong stems. Cactus-flowered zinnias have quilled petals with heads up to 4 inches wide.
Zinnias come in vivid and rich colors as well as pastels and creamy white. If you don’t want to stick with one or two colors, try a mixed-color seed packet. An unusually colored zinnia is the heirloom variety Envy, which is chartreuse and will do well in a semi-shaded area.
Zinnias are so eager to flower that they actually appreciate cutting. There is a group of zinnias called “cut and come again.” I grow these, and they do flower profusely, but there are so many other varieties to choose from.
There’s no doubt that zinnias are superb cut flowers, not elegant like a lily nor anywhere near as fragrant, but long-producing flowers make up for that. Some people consider them coarse with their fought stems and gaudy colors, but with zinnias you can always create a multicolored homespun bouquet.
My favorite thing about zinnias is fall when the monarch butterflies come in droves for the last nectar of the season. Truly the most beautiful thing in the garden!
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thanks so much for the info on zinnias. we are moving there in early November and I’m already deciding what to plant. I will definitely be adding zinnias to my garden.