Tag Archives: zinnias

Growing Zinnias That Are Resistant to Powdery Mildew

Mexican zinnia

I grow zinnias every year in my Virginia garden. Zinnias are probably one of the easiest flowers to grow from seed in this area. These warm season annuals can be sown directly into a container or on the ground after the last frost. They need full sun, good air circulation, and they are not particular about the soil. The flowers attract butterflies and bees; deer do not bother the plants.

The only hitch is that some species are prone to powdery mildew. Our hot and humid summer is an ideal environment for this fungal disease that creates a white coating on the plants. It does not kill the plants but makes the foliage unsightly. However, there are some zinnias that are resistant to powdery mildew.

Narrow-leaf zinnia, Zinnia angustifolia or Z. linearis, is a foot tall, bushy plant with narrow leaves and small, single, daisy-like flowers. The flowers are about an inch wide with single-colored petals such as orange, red, pink, white, or yellow. Because of its compact size, it makes an excellent window box or container plant and can be used in the garden as a border plant. These are small but you cut a bunch and put in a small vase.

Zinnia angustifolia

Mexican zinnia (Z. haageana) is like narrow-leaf zinnia in shape, size, and foliage. The flowers are a little larger and can be single, semi-double, or double petals. Each flower has more than one color – usually a spectrum of sunset colors: red, orange, burgundy, yellow, and cream. I discovered them when I purchased Renee’s Garden Persian Carpet mix, which I love. There are other flower blends such as Aztec Sunset, Jazzy Mix, Old Mexico, and Soleado. Again, small flowers but a bunch can be cut for small vases. These are excellent for containers and as border plants.

There are two series of zinnias that have been bred specifically for powdery mildew resistance:  Z. marylandica, also called Zahara, and the Profusion series. Zahara has flowers that are larger than the two previously mentioned species, about 2 to 2 1/2 inches wide. There is a wider flower color range too. The plants are taller, about 18 inches high, which is better for floral arrangements. Profusion is pretty much the same as Zahara, a taller zinnia with larger flowers. Zahara and Profusion give you a wide range of colors to pick from, these are easy to find in seed catalogs.

All of these are going to be easier to find if you look for the seed instead of a plant in a garden center. The companies below have these varieties and here is a list of more than 100 seed companies if you want to look for more zinnias.
Burpee
Johnny’s Selected Seeds
Kitchen Garden Seeds
Park Seed
Renee’s Garden

Mexican zinnias in a vase

 

Powdery Mildew Resistant Zinnias

Mexican zinnia

I grow zinnias every year in my Northern Virginia garden. Zinnias are probably one of the easiest flowers to grow from seed in this area. These warm season annuals can be sown directly into a container or on the ground after the last frost. They need full sun, good air circulation, and they are not particular about the soil. The flowers attract butterflies and bees; deer do not bother the plants.

The only hitch is that some species are prone to powdery mildew. Our hot and humid summer is an ideal environment for this fungal disease that creates a white coating on the plants. It does not kill the plants but makes the foliage unsightly. However, there are some zinnias that are resistant to powdery mildew.

Narrow-leaf zinnia, Zinnia angustifolia or Z. linearis, is a foot tall, bushy plant with narrow leaves and small, single, daisy-like flowers. The flowers are about an inch wide with single-colored petals such as orange, red, pink, white, or yellow. Because of its compact size, it makes an excellent window box or container plant and can be used in the garden as a border plant. These are small but you cut a bunch and put in a small vase.

Zinnia angustifolia

Mexican zinnia (Z. haageana) is like narrow-leaf zinnia in shape, size, and foliage. The flowers are a little larger and can be single, semi-double, or double petals. Each flower has more than one color – usually a spectrum of sunset colors: red, orange, burgundy, yellow, and cream. I discovered them when I purchased Renee’s Garden Persian Carpet mix, which I love. There are other flower blends such as Aztec Sunset, Jazzy Mix, Old Mexico, and Soleado. Again, small flowers but a bunch can be cut for small vases. These are excellent for containers and as border plants.

There are two series of zinnias that have been bred specifically for powdery mildew resistance:  Z. marylandica, also called Zahara, and the Profusion series. Zahara has flowers that are larger than the two previously mentioned species, about 2 to 2 1/2 inches wide. There is a wider flower color range too. The plants are taller, about 18 inches high, which is better for floral arrangements. Profusion is pretty much the same as Zahara, a taller zinnia with larger flowers. Zahara and Profusion give you a wide range of colors to pick from, these are easy to find in seed catalogs.

All of these are going to be easier to find if you look for the seed instead of a plant in a garden center. The companies below have these varieties and here is a list of more than 100 seed companies if you want to look for more zinnias.
Burpee
Johnny’s Selected Seeds
Kitchen Garden Seeds
Park Seed
Renee’s Garden

Mexican zinnias in a vase

 

In a Vase on Monday: Salvia and Persian Carpet Zinnias

Persian carpet zinnias (Zinnia haageana) are one of my favorite annuals. Their yellow, orange, red, and burgundy colors appear in different patterns on each flower. These flowers provide a great contrast to the purple salvia ‘Rockin’ Playin’ the Blues’, a new Proven Winners introduction. #inavaseonMonday

In a Vase on Monday: Small Flowered Zinnias and a Surprise Herb

I like to grow different types of zinnias each summer, particularly old-fashioned species. This year I grew a yellow-flowered Peruviana (Zinnia peruviana) and multi-colored Persian Carpet (Zinnia haageana). Tucked in this arrangement is a yellow-flowered herb, can you guess what it is? Here is a clue: This herb grows as a tangled perennial in my zone 7 Virginia garden and is just now blooming in July. #inavaseonmonday

Start Hardy Annuals now for Spring Flowers

love-in-a-mist

love-in-a-mist

I forgot to grow zinnias. Every year I grow zinnias so I can put a vase of flowers on my desk at work but for some odd reason, I didn’t this year. Now in the heat of summer I don’t have many options to choose from but next year I will grow zinnias for summer blooms and on top of that, will start even earlier with spring flowers.

dianthus

dianthus

To learn more about increasing the diversity of flowers in my Northern Virginia garden, I have been following Lisa Mason Ziegler’s virtual book study for the past month. Each Friday for 10 Fridays, she posts a 10-minute video that corresponds to a chapter in her book, Cool Flowers: How to Grow and Enjoy Long-Blooming Hardy Annual Flowers Using Cool Weather Techniques. The videos can be viewed on her website any time and she is more than happy to answer questions.  Lisa manages a commercial cut flower business in Newport News, Virginia. She is well known in the horticulture field, has written books and given lectures, and has an online garden shop called The Gardener’s Workshop. Lisa is an expert on hardy annuals, which prefer to bloom during spring’s cool temperatures. Hardy annuals differ from the summer annuals in that the seeds are sown in August/September or February/March, depending on the plant. In contrast, summer annuals, like zinnias, prefer the heat so they are sown after the danger of frost has passed in late April/early May.

Of the 30 plants mentioned in her book, I have seeds of six plants on hand. I can start snapdragon, dianthus, and feverfew indoors now and transplant at the end of August. I can direct sow love-in-a-mist, larkspur, and calendula seeds at the end of August to the beginning of September. All of these will bloom in the spring and peter out when summer arrives which will increase my number of cut flowers from spring to early summer. From then on the summer annuals can take over and I will look for a few more in addition to zinnias. In her videos and in her book, Lisa discusses her preference for direct sown versus transplants and starting in the fall versus early spring. If the plant is hardy to a zone colder than one’s own zone, plant in the fall. If the plant is not has hardy as one’s own zone, plant in early spring.  However, early spring can mean cold, wet soil so she suggests preparing the bed in the fall and covering with mulch or landscape fabric to prevent weeds and to enable the ground to be worked easily in February and March.

So far I have viewed 5 of the 10 videos and I have read the book. If hardy annuals are something you would like to try, you can catch up by visiting her web site and listening to her videos or buy her book on her site or at a bookstore but it is not necessary to have the book in order to follow along with her videos.