Backyard Gardener: Zinnias provide beautiful blooms for summer
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Hello, Mid-Ohio Valley farmers and gardeners. It is hard to believe but summer is here! Well, technically summer begins June 21.
This week let's talk about zinnias. Yes, these pretty annual flowers are great for pollinators and will provide beautiful blooms all summer. Zinnias are fairly easy to grow and they love full sun and well-drained soil. Transplants or direct sown into the garden. If you choose to get an early start and plan to transplant, plant them in a peat pot that can be planted directly into the garden or planting bed, as not to disrupt the roots.
The genus Zinnia is comprised of seventeen species worldwide and its members vary from short-statured plants only inches tall to upright, woody specimens. The native range of these plants extends from the Southwestern United States all the way to South America, spanning a considerable array of habitat and climate. This diversity has lent well to breeding efforts and today there are a multitude of varieties offering a very wide selection of flower colors and shapes.
Zinnias can be dwarf to giant, ranging from 6 inches to over 4 feet. The flower heads come in a variety of shapes from single and double blooms, to spidery-shaped to domes. The best thing is the fantastic range of colors. Zinnias are available from the faintest pastel to the most vibrant colors. They come striped, speckled, solid and multicolored.
To have blooms from early summer to frost, Michigan State University Extension suggests dead heading zinnias. Dead heading helps to promote the zinnias to keep preforming throughout the season. Nevertheless, zinnias get tired, so I recommend succession plantings of zinnias every two weeks. I plan succession plantings commencing in late May and continue through about the first week of July. This guarantees showy blooms through late September. It is not too late to plant a few zinnia seeds for late summer color that will last until the first frost.
Deadheading will help to ensure a season of blooms throughout the summer. Zinnias are relatively maintenance free and extremely drought tolerant. They are susceptible to powdery mildew, but new varieties have excellent resistance. and most full sun locations keep foliage dry enough to limit infection.
Most varieties make excellent cut flowers, lasting about a week in a vase, sometimes up to two weeks. Their sturdy, stout stems work well in floral arrangements, especially taller varieties.
Pollinators, especially butterflies, find zinnias attractive and make use of their floral resources throughout the months of blooms. Although not all zinnias are the best pollinator food sources since many varieties produce double flowers, which have little or no pollinator value.
Double flowering is a naturally occurring mutation that breeders have captured to produce more attractive flowers. This mutation is not limited to zinnias, occurring across a wide range of other species. It has been used extensively by plant breeders to create flowers with more abundant petals to add either more color or larger bloom sizes. However, this mutation precludes the development of reproductive flower parts to produce dense flowers, jam-packed with colorful petals.
So, double flower structures don't offer the pollen and nectar that single flowers produce, although they do produce incredibly beautiful blooms that tend to remain open longer since less energy and growth is focus on seed production.
In addition to zinnias' spectacular garden show where ever you need a burst of color, zinnias are an incredible cut flower. Many varieties of zinnias will last from seven to 12 days in a vase. Zinnias are the workhorse of the farmer's market, too. Flower farmers will attest that zinnias with their brilliant colors, easy care and long vase life are one of the most profitable flowers to grow.
Two of my favorite zinnia varieties are "Benary's Giant" and "Cut and Come Again." Their names tell their story. "Benary's Giant" are large bloomed, brilliant flowers on tall stems ranging from 40-52 inches. "Cut and Come Again" just love to produce and, like all zinnias, if you cut the stem just above a bud joint, you'll encourage your zinnias to produce nonstop throughout the growing season.
Contact me at the Wood County WVU Extension Office 304-424-1960 or e-mail me at jj.barrett@mail.wvu.edu with questions. Good Luck and Happy Gardening!