Another star of the late summer cut flower garden are the Zinnias, if you want some vibrant hot colours for your cutting patch these are the ones for you. Though there is lots of breeding going of these and there are some lovely colours and forms coming through. With many more muted pastel tones that are gorgeous. There are many dwarf varieties bred for bedding so take care when choosing varieties to grow. I am a big fan of rich, jewel shades and Zinnias are just perfect for that. They go great with Dahlias, Rudbeckias, Nicotiana and other later flowers.
They are half hardy annuals so are frost tender. They are not too hard to grow but there are a couple of things to note, they don’t like too much root disturbance and can sulk a bit if moved around too much and because of this its often recommended to direct sow but then that brings the second thing to note they are magnets for slugs who find them especially delicious! Having had big losses of them on my allotment in the past I tend to sow undercover but I sow into modules or straight into 9cm pots and grow them on a bit so they are a decent size before planting out after the frosts have passed. They are the one annual that I grow that really need a good sunny spot and don’t perform well in cool wet summers (which we often have!), many flower farmers grow them undercover in polytunnels. Obviously I’m growing on a much smaller scale, so they have priority for the sunniest spot in my garden. You can support them with some jute netting.
They really need pinching out once they get about 30cm tall this will encourage lots more flowering side shoots and ultimately longer stems, they will then flower right into early autumn just keep picking. There is a trick passed down amongst flower farmers for how to know when to cut them. Its called the wiggle test and is very reliable. Wiggle the stem and if its floppy then wait a bit longer before you pick, but if its stiff its ready to be cut. They then are pretty long lasting in a vase of 7-10 days.
There are four varieties available at Higgledy garden. Zinnia ‘Mammoth’ is a vibrant mix of large flowers, like this vibrant red.
Zinnia ‘Cactus’ is another variety with large flowers and long narrow quill-like petals, like this bright pink.
Zinnia ‘Envy’ is a must for those that love green flowers which are so unusual.
But my favourite is Zinnia ‘Purple Prince’ which performed amazingly for me last year.
I used them in lots of bouquets in August and September. Even the white ones looked great, here with Larkspur ‘Imperials’, Achillea ‘The Pearl’, white Origanum and Cynoglossum ‘Firmament’.
Zinnia ‘Purple Prince’ also went well with more pastel tones. Including Cosmos ‘Fizzy Rose’, Daucus carota ‘Dara’, Nicotiana ‘Starlight Dancer’, Lysimachia barystachys and Origanum.
But my favourite bouquet with Zinnias in was a truly vibrant mix. Which contains Zinnia ‘Mammoth’ and ‘Purple Prince’, Rudbeckia ‘Marmalade’, Larkspur ‘Imperials’, ‘Salvia ‘Oxford Blue‘, Tithonia ‘Torch’ and Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’.
Zinnia ‘Purple Prince’ is part of the Higgledy Sunglasses bundle which is a vibrant collection of annuals that we have put together for you.
They look great as floating flowers too!
Anyone else growing Zinnias this year? I sowed mine yesterday!
Higgledy Anne
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