Zinnias are to the summer flower garden as tomatoes are to the vegetable garden: easy, prolific and quintessential. A vase of zinnias on the kitchen table is as cheerful and summery as a day at the beach.
Lately, there has been an explosion of new zinnias on the market. You can now find zinnias in just about every imaginable color and size from little, poof-pillow-shaped mounds to towering 4-foot giants. Bi-colors, stripes, bands and bulls-eye patterns abound. Flowers come in shapes from single stars to multipetaled balls.
Zinnias are New World flowers that keep good company with their regional relatives: dahlias and sunflowers. Their native roots are in Mexico, Central and South America and the Southwestern U.S. They thrive in dry heat and average organic soils. As long as it is warm enough, and the summer humidity doesn't cause trouble, zinnias will thrive.
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