Singing the Zinnia Song

Zinnia was one of those very first plants I have grown even before I claimed myself as a gardener. When we were selling our previous house, I bought one 18-pack of zinnias from a big box store to give the yard some instant color. Notice I said “yard” instead of “garden” because there were almost no plants in my previous house except some bushes. The only thing I did was just planting them in several containers and watering them. They just bloomed non-stopping.

Even after we moved into the new house, they kept blooming for me for another couple of months. Any plants can perform that well with little attention is a big plus for a non-gardener like me at that time. Next year, I found some free seedlings from that same zinnia in the garden. Since then I have bought a couple of more Zinnias with different colors from big box store. I loved them all even they might look very simple compared to so many other plants in my garden.

Early this year, I bought a pack of Burpee's Zinnia Elegans "Candy cane red on white" seeds, and planted.

When seedlings came up, I am surprised that the leaves are much broader than all the ones I had bought from the big box stores. The seedlings grew quite fast, and when it was the time to transplant, the big size of seedlings made it very easier to handle. Now the plants started developing the buds, and they are giving me more surprises with every opening flower.

Some came in red/white stripes as expected, with some variations on the colors:

Some came in different solid colors:

Most of them are 4 inch double flowers, but some came in small size with single layered flowers:

The flowers hold higher on the stems, and last for more than a couple of weeks, which made them great cutting flowers.  They thrive in the South Florida full sun, which is another character I love about this plant!

Recently I received some more American Elegans Zinnia seeds from my blog friend (thanks, Meems!). The seedlings are almost ready to be transplanted. These seeds are supposed to be multi-colored. I am sure that I will have a lot more to expect, and my garden will be so colorful with all these giant flowers dotted everywhere.

So, expect me singing the Zinnia song all Summer long, and well into the Fall!