Favored by butterflies and people of all ages, the Zinnia has at least 20 annual and perennial type qualities, come in all kinds of colors; even variegated, and can be low mounding types or tall, somewhat stalkless (sessile) appearance. Actually, I find that most of them have the hollow peduncle stems that are short and interspersed with leaves that grow right off the stalk. It has also been around since the mid 1700's and named after a German botonist with the last name of Zinn who named the genus. Thank you Herr Zinn!
The blooms that grow all over the Americas and Europe come in rows of petals around a center, or sometimes is multi-layered like a little dome of petals. There are all kinds of sizes of blooms right in the same patch. Usually, there is a center circular "crown" of yellow-gold little cross-like stamens (I am guessing here on the anatomical-botanical properties) after the blooms have been open for a few days. I have all colors and the ones I love the most must have actually gotten some fertilizer...they are practically neon, they are so bright! Purples, reds, orange, yellow, pink, red and white striped...oh, so many to enjoy!
I learned something new today; I discovered early on that you can dry the heads and save them for next years seed stock, but, it may not produce the same color as the parent. That would explain it!
Here I am, even now, drying the heads by color.
One great thing about Zinnias are that the colors you like the most, cut the most frequently. They absolutely will give you an abundance of blooms if you deadhead every few days. I am harvesting now and have a vase in every room of the house, some places in a grouping.
I am so thankful for summer time!
We had a huge storm in this area this past weekend and some of my Zinnia friends were layed completely over or yanked out by the roots! That happened to some of my sun flowers in full regalia as well. One stalk was completely uprooted and laid over like some of the trees in the neighborhood. I cut off 24 blooms from one stalk. I hated it being a casualty! Sometimes, like a friend, you don't know what ails them and you hope they snap out of it in a day or two!
Try them out if you have a friend who will give you some seeds for next year; of course if you live in a region lower than 6 where I am, you might be able to get another bloom in before frost; certainly if you do not have frost, you can.
In the garden of life, I hope we are mostly Zinnia; cheerful, resiliant, abundantly blooming and easy to cultivate. Cut a bunch and enjoy them; not aromatic but they are lovely!
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