FLIMBY: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

This is another installment in our Flowers in My Back Yard series, dedicated to blooming plants.

Is summer really summer without zinnias?

These annuals provide bursts of bright color during hot months when nearly everything seems to be sagging in the heat. They’re also very popular with bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

As a bonus, zinnias are very easy to grow from seed. And once established, they are drought- and heat-tolerant.

The plants come in several sizes, from 12 inches to 4 feet tall, with blooms ranging from 1 inch wide to 5-plus inches across.

The one thing they all need is a sunny spot — 6 to 8 hours of sun per day.  Decent to excellent soil helps, too. Zinnias do not like moisture on their leaves — it promotes powdery mildew — so be sure to water them at ground level.

All but the shortest zinnias are ideal cut flowers. They are true “cut and come again” plants, producing more blooms the more they are clipped.

The next few weeks are perfect for starting zinnias, since we should have a long run of dry days once the plants have emerged. Newly planted seeds do need warm, moist soil to germinate, which may be the only tough part about growing them. They’ll produce reliably until early fall or even later, depending on temperature levels — frost will finish them off.

Below is a look at various types of zinnias, from biggest to smallest, with types to fit in any size garden.

— Giants, with 5-inch blossoms, 4-foot-tall stems, ideal for cutting. Look for Benary’s Giant, California Giant or State Fair varieties. These are my favorites, especially those that produce the fully double dahlia-type blooms. You want color? Try yellow, apricot, coral, peach, orange, red, pink, fuchsia, red violet, white and even (light) green.

— Large, with 4 to 5 inch blooms, slightly shorter than the giants, but also good cutting flowers. These include the skinny-petaled “cactus” blooms as well as the flatter daisy-type blossoms. The “Peppermint Stick” two-color speckled zinnias are fun to grow. The Queeny series, which is relatively new, has some spectacular color combinations.

A tip for supporting these two types of larger plants, which can get top heavy by late summer: Place unused tomato cages over the plants just as they reach about 1 foot tall, then let them grow up and through the cages.

— Zinderella. Frillier than the largest varieties, these zinnias resemble scabiosa (pincushion) flowers. They grow 25 to 30 inches tall, with a mix of double and single blooms about 2 to 2-1/2 inches wide. Gorgeous colors, especially the pastels.

— Thumbelina. These have 2-inch semi-double to double flowers on 12- to 18-inch stems. They have as many colors as the larger flowers, but don’t take up as much room. Great in containers or grown in front of the larger zinnias.

— Profusion and Zahara varieties. With 1-inch flowers and a bushy plant habit, these 12-inch plants are perfect for containers or front-of-the-bed color. They need less deadheading than the large flowers. These zinnias can be readily found as transplants at most nurseries. Look for the two-color blooms — they are striking.

Favorite zinnia seed growers include Renee’s Garden,  Botanical Interests and Eden Brothers. Renee’s, which is California-based, has especially nice blends of zinnia colors. The “Moulin Rouge” blend of heirloom cutting zinnias, for instance, includes scarlet, true crimson and deep red shades, while the “Bling Bling” blend contains seeds for deep orange, bright yellow and red violet flowers.

Botanical Interests also does some excellent blends: The Key Lime blend has seeds for creamy white and lime green zinnias. Eden Brothers, while a little pricier, is a zinnia grower’s dream, with dozens of sizes and blends.

Curious to know which zinnia is “Farmer Fred” Hoffman’s favorite? He explores some of the award winners among zinnias, too. Read his recent Beyond the Garden Basics column here.