Zinnias - Why You Should Have Zinnias in Your Garden

Let's chat about a fun, gorgeous, easy to grow flower that if you don't have in your garden or gardens plans, you should! Zinnias have always been a favorite of many gardeners!  It's at the top of the list for me! Their variety assortment is gorgeous and fun; they are easy to grow, seeds are inexpensive, but also easy to collect, save and share, and they will give you loads of bouquets from late spring/early summer until the first frost of fall.

So, what makes this little seed have such a powerful punch? The list is endless. As mentioned above, I think two key elements, if I had to narrow down the long list, would be they are SO easy to grow and they produce a bountiful harvest week after week from the first bloom until that first frost. 

I'm going to list a few things that make this a tried and true flower that almost all commercial and home gardeners love or will come to love...

• They LOVE hot weather. Living in the south, this is definitely not always the case with every pretty plant. But, the hotter the summer gets, the more they seem to shine! 

• They require very little maintenance. They don't have a lot of problems, but if you have Japanese beetles in your area, they love them as much as the gardeners do. So, if you tend to have these critters in your area, plan on about a month-long attack at which time you can cut back their destruction after they've left, and in a couple of weeks, your plants tend to come back for the remainder of summer. Also, as the nights tend to cool, you can sometimes get powdery mildew if your plants are planted close together, not allowing a lot of airflow. There are remedies for this, though. 

• If you want a bounty of fresh flowers that continue to have large blooms - consider successive planting. About every two weeks, plant another small crop in your space, and you will continually yield optimal flowers.   

• The pollinators LOVE them. If you have zinnias, you will see countless bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. It's a win-win. 

• Do you want a fresh bouquet or bouquets all summer long? Plant zinnias, as many as your space, will allow. That will give you the benefit of sharing with someone else.  

• They are FAST growing. That is a crucial component as to why successive planting is such a benefit to this particular plant.