[00:00:00] Welcome back to the podcast. Today we're gonna talk about one of my absolute favorite topics, and that is the beautiful flower that is the zinnia and zinnias are having a moment. They are starting to be front of mind in the world of gardening trends, which is so funny because zinnias are such an old fashioned flower.
[00:00:23] A flower that people have been growing for a really, really long time. But I think they've just come back into fashion, especially with cottage core, and there's no more quintessential summer cottage flower than the zinnia, especially here in North Texas. Today, I'm gonna talk about everything that you need to know to get started growing zinnias here.
[00:00:48] Zinnias are especially good if you are. A relatively new gardener because they are one of the only a handful of plants that you can literally stick seeds in the ground. They will germinate very easily. They're easy to grow, and they don't require a ton of specialized knowledge in order to grow them.
[00:01:10] So if you have dreamed of filling your house through the summer with. Bouquets of flowers that you've grown yourself or beautifying your front yard in a way that will make people stop when they are walking by and ask you what you are growing then zinnias are for you. You can grow zinnias as a bedding annual.
[00:01:35] You can grow zinnia just for landscape ornamentation, or you can grow zinnias specifically for cutting. Let's dive right in and chat about this flower that I absolutely cannot get enough of. So there are so many reasons why I love zinnias right now. My front display garden is full of them, and the best part is I didn't plant them.
[00:02:01] At least I didn't plant them this year. Every single zinnia plant in my front display garden, and there's probably 40 plants, they all came back by themselves. They dropped seed and they have all come back from dropped seed as volunteers. And nothing makes me happier than not having to do anything and getting.
[00:02:26] Major payoff. So that's one of the reasons that I love zinnias. They are an annual that can behave like a perennial. The other thing is there's so many different kinds of zinnias. One of the reasons I love growing tomatoes is because there are so many different varieties of them. Same thing with zinnias.
[00:02:45] Zinnias come in almost any color you can imagine. There are even green zinnias and there are different shapes of Zia blossoms. We'll get into that, all the different varieties that are available, how to select a variety, and then I'll also talk about some of my personal favorites. But there's all sorts of different zinnias that you can grow.
[00:03:07] The seeds are easy to find too. You can easily buy them online from reputable seed companies like Botanical Interests, or Johnny's or Swallowtail Seeds. Those are three of my favorite online suppliers. But they're also super easy to find locally. In independent nursery. the Calloway's on Lemon, which is really close to where I live, has one of the largest selections of botanical interest seeds I have ever seen in one place, which is fantastic.
[00:03:37] So if you are going to go look for zinnia seeds, I implore you to make your first stop at a local independent nursery. Alright, so. That's another reason why I love Zinnias. They're very easy to get CS for. They're readily available online. They're readily available at local independent nurseries. Of course, you're gonna get a better selection of different varieties if you're shopping online, but they're really easy to get Also, zinnias are fabulous pollinator plants. (Monarch video) They attract monarchs when they migrate through North Texas in October. (Hummingbird video) Right now is. The start of the hummingbird migration through Texas and hummingbirds love zinnias as well. So you will see hummingbirds starting to visit your zinnias now. And then bees love them as well.
[00:04:27] So not only are they beautiful, easy to grow, but they support our native pollinators, which is super, super important. So let's dive into some of the specifics about how you can start growing zinnias, or if you already are growing zinnias, how to kind of take that to the next level. We talked about the all the different types of.
[00:04:48] zinnia is that there are, and when it comes to picking what variety or cultivar of zinnia to grow, there are three main characteristics that are going to distinguish one variety from another. The first is the bloom shape. Zinnias have all different bloom shapes.
[00:05:09] (Dahlia flowered) You can get Dahlia flower, zinnias, which are some of my favorites, that have that really dense blossom with lots of petals that dahlias do. You can also get. (Oklahoma series) Zinnias that are shaped almost like a perfectly round ball. You can get zinnias that are more daisy like flowers, and then you can also get zinnias that have very small flowers.
[00:05:32] So flower shape is one of the first things that you will want to look for. And when you're shopping online, you can usually get a picture of what the final Zia will look like. If you are shopping for seeds and they don't have a picture of the Zia on the packet, hopefully they have a description on the packet of what that flower shape looks like.
[00:05:53] Or you can do a quick Google search on your phone and look up that particular. Variety to see what the bloom shape is. then also bloom's size can differ. I love my zinnias to be as big as they possibly can. So I love California giants. I love beri giants. So size and shape of the blossom itself is one thing that distinguishes zinnia varieties.
[00:06:16] Once you have an idea of what bloom shape you're after, then you can decide what color that you want. there are lots of different colors that you can choose from. If you have no idea where to start, think about the colors that you wear. Go into your closet. Pick out the colors that you wear the most.
[00:06:35] (My zinnias) I love intense saturated colors in my garden, so that's what I gravitate to and then I encourage you just to experiment. The great thing about Xenias is that you, every year you can grow tons of different varieties and then you can see what you like, what colors you like in your garden or what bloom shape you like, and then you can start growing that one again and again.
[00:07:01] And then also just leaving some room in your garden for experimenting with new varieties every year. And the final characteristic that's going to distinguish one Zia variety from another is going to be height.
[00:07:14] The more traditional heirloom zinnias grow quite tall. And then there are newer types of zinnias that have been bred to stay very short. When you are shopping for zinnia in nurseries, a lot of the times they are going to be selling zinnia that have been bred for bedding plants
[00:07:35] so they want them to be quite compact and small and shorter in height. Typically you'll have either shorter, more compact Zia, or you're going to have the traditional kind that can get to be quite, quite tall. Those taller zinnias are what you want. If you are growing zinnias for cut flowers, you want long stems so that you can put them in vases and have these large, beautiful arrangements.
[00:08:03] Some of the zinnias that I personally love might help you in your decision on what to grow. I look for big flowers. I love show stopping flowers that you can see from far away that make a really big impact in the landscape, and also look fabulous in floral arrangements. So I am partial to Benary's Giant and California Giants.
[00:08:27] Those are two series that have really large blooms. When you shop a particular series, you can often get a mix of colors in one seed packet. So a lot of times you'll see California Giants mix or Benary's Giant mix, and that allows you to grow all the different colors that are available in that series.
[00:08:51] And then you can figure out which color you like. And most of the time you can find those colors for sale individually. The current favorite in my garden this year that came back so well is Purple Prince, (Purple Prince) Purple Prince is very similar to Re's Giant Purple,
[00:09:08] what I love about this is that the Blooms stay on the plant a really long time, different varieties of zinnias have different lengths for which the blooms will stay. Good looking, if you will.
[00:09:22] What I love about purple prints is the blooms are massive and they stay on the plant for a really long time before I have to deadhead them. The other thing I love about purple prints is it's Dahlia flowered, they have a lot of petals and they're very densely packed together, so they make for these very dense, gorgeous, beautiful blooms.
[00:09:43] Another Zinnia that I love. Our cactus flowered zinnias (cactus flowered zinnias) and the cactus flowered zinnias have these thin, narrow petals that are kind of twisted. They're very architectural, they're very unusual and very cool. You don't see them growing very often, but when you do start growing them, you're going to fall in love with them.
[00:10:05] I think they almost look like a painting. You can find cactus flowered. Mixes, and then you can also find individual cactus varieties. One example is the Red Zenorita. That is a red cactus flower. Another series that I love is the Oklahoma Series, and that's because Oklahoma Zinnias are almost a perfect round ball, very dense pedals they're not the biggest bloom. They're kind of a mid-size bloom, mid to small, but they have these very perfect round shapes that make them total standouts in both the garden and especially in flower arrangements. And then the final Zia that I love and that is currently lining the front border of my display gardens.
[00:10:58] Our profusion zinnias, and these have been bred specifically as bedding annuals. You will see these in nurseries all over North Texas at the beginning of summer, and they come in a bunch of different colors. They have really, really good disease resistance, which is one of the benefits of the perfusion series.
[00:11:17] They're blooms are on the small side, but they're. Prolific bloomers. Each plant has tons of blooms on the plant and they will continue blooming all summer long, no matter how hot it is.
[00:11:30] Now let's talk about what it takes to grow great. Zinnias, I'm sure you have questions about this. You may have been growing zinnias for a long time, but have maybe have been running up against some issues. I can help you out with that. The first thing that you need to understand is when we plant them in North Texas, we can grow zinnias.
[00:11:49] From spring all the way up until the first frost, but the window for direct seeding them. So planting the seeds directly into the ground is early April to early August. If you wanna get a jumpstart on the season, you can start Xenia seeds indoors as early as mid-February. But you have to remember that.
[00:12:12] Our last average frost date in DFW is March 12th, so you wanna make sure you do not put your zinnias out until we definitely don't have any more freezes in the forecast. They will not tolerate , a freeze in any way, shape, or form. The other thing is that X's. Require warmer soil in order for the seeds to germinate, so it doesn't benefit you to try and plant them as soon as possible after the last freeze.
[00:12:42] That's because the soil temperature is still quite cool at that time of year, so it is best to wait until April when the soil has warmed up a little bit more. The warmer the soil temperature is, the better germination rates are going to get if you plant too early. There's a big risk that you won't get any germination from those seeds, so don't rush that.
[00:13:03] , Direct sow need time between early April and early August. We don't wanna sow any later than early August because if we plant them too late, we won't have time for the plants to mature and bloom before we get freezing temperatures. Also don't forget, you will always know when to plant your zinnia when you have your 2026 North Texas Garden Planner that is going to launch a lot earlier than it has in previous years. So make sure that you are on the notification slash waiting list to be the first notified when the 2026 planner is here and available for purchase. And if you are among the first. Buyers of the 2026 planner, you're going to get a really awesome gift, and I will tell you more about that as we get closer to planner launch. in the show notes, I'm going to leave a link where you can get on the waiting list for. The 2026 planner and be one of the first people to get notified when that is available
[00:14:10] So the planner will help you know exactly when to plant your zinnias as well. And also remember that planting timeframe of early April to early August, you've got your seeds. You know when you're going to plant. The next thing that you need to do is think about your garden soil. The great thing about zinnia is another reason I love them is they're not super picky about their soil.
[00:14:33] They can handle the heavy clay that most of us have here in North Texas. Whether you have sandy soil or heavy clay soil, the kind of bare minimum that you need to do to improve your soil before planting, which goes a long way toward the success of zinnia, is to mix in some good quality compost purchased from an independent nursery.
[00:14:55] Into the top six to eight inches of your garden soil before you plant. If you're going to be growing zinnias in containers, which you definitely can. So even if you don't have a yard, if you have just a patio or a balcony, you can grow zinnias as well. Just make sure that you're using really high quality potting soil.
[00:15:14] And the way to make sure that you're buying good quality potting soil is to make sure that you're buying your potting soil from a local, independent nursery and not a home improvement store. If you wanna take it to the next level. If you have heavy clay, the best thing to do is when you're mixing in that compost before planting.
[00:15:32] Also mix in some expanded shale, which helps to break up the heavy clay and improve the drainage. That expanded shale can be incorporated just once, and it lasts for , many years. With compost, you need to mix in compost, ideally in between every crop that you're growing, in between every flour in between every vegetable or at minimum, mix it into the soil
[00:15:58] in early spring before you plant anything that's going to enhance the. Nutrient content of the soil, it's going to improve the soil texture, and it's also going to enhance beneficial microbial activity. After you've mended your soil, then you can either transplant the seedlings that you started indoors, or you can.
[00:16:23] Direct sow your seeds. When you are direct sowing your seeds, you need to make sure that you're following the instructions on the seed packet. That's gonna tell you how deep to plant and also the spacing. Spacing of zinnias is important, and I'll explain why in a second. But the seed packet will give you a lot of great information that you need to know to be successful when you are direct sowing seed.
[00:16:48] Once your seeds have germinated, when they start growing, one thing that happens with Zia is they can get quite top heavy. And to prevent this and also to get more blooms, we can do something called pinching. When your zinnia seedlings have reached about 12 inches tall, you can pinch them back, and what that means is cutting back the growing tip above a set of leaves, which will encourage branching.
[00:17:18] What that does is it creates a plant that's shorter and stockier and less likely to tip over and you don't need to support it. Right now I've got a bunch of zinnias in my front display garden that are supported with steaks because I didn't get a chance to pinch them when they were young.
[00:17:37] The other way that you can ensure that your plants stay nice and stocky. Is to make sure that you are deadheading them frequently or you are harvesting flowers Frequently, deadheading is the process of removing blossoms that have died back. Every blossom has a natural life cycle. They don't stay on the plant perfectly indefinitely.
[00:18:03] I remember one time a student reached out to me and had a question and said. I don't understand. All the flowers on my plant are dying. And I asked, well, is the plant itself dying? No. It's just the flowers are dying. So how, when did, how long had they been on the plant and when did they start dying? Oh, they've been on the plant for about two or three weeks, and now they're dying back.
[00:18:27] And what I realized is that she thought that the flowers stayed perfect. Indefinitely. So when a flower bloomed, it just stayed that perfect way in its ideal size and color forever. What I had to let her know was that flowers have a natural life cycle. They will go through a natural process when seas develop, and then the bloom itself starts to fade.
[00:18:55] Back. Once that happens, in order to encourage your plant to continue producing flowers, and also to keep it short and stocky, you need to deadhead those dead flowers. And the best way to do it with zinnia is to actually. Not just cut off the bloom, which will also just leave a little naked stalk there, but to cut a rather long stem and cut above a set of leaves so that it will encourage branching.
[00:19:23] You'll get more blooms and you'll have a nice stockier plant that doesn't need to be supported ideally, and won't flop over. Make sure that you're deadheading your zinnias at least once a week. You have to kind of stay on top of it, especially when it's really, really warm and the plants are growing really quickly.
[00:19:43] The next kind of care maintenance step that's important for zinnia is to make sure that they're getting even moisture . If we're not getting consistent rainfall, you need to supplement the moisture that they need with watering them with a hose, watering them with drip irrigation or watering them with sprinklers.
[00:20:04] Sprinklers is the least ideal way to irrigate your zinnias, and I'll explain why in a moment. They're not super water hungry plants. They can tolerate heat and a little bit of dry weather, however. You do want to keep that soil as evenly moist as possible. That's because wind zinnias wilt, they tend not to recover, this is just a characteristic of zinnias, once the plant wilts. It does not recover very well and eventually that entire plant will die back. You wanna prevent your zinnia plants from ever wilting. The way to do that is to make sure that you are giving them consistent moisture.
[00:20:46] If we don't get rain and you are maintaining a deep layer of mulch around the plants at least three inches deep, which is going to help conserve moisture, and that way you'll have to water them a lot less.
[00:21:00] If you have struggled with growing zinnias, you probably have battled powdery mildew. That's one of the most common problems with zinnias, and it is just a plant that is naturally susceptible to powdery mildew, which is a fungal disease. Luckily, a lot of the new varieties of zinnias that have been bred.
[00:21:23] Have a higher resistance to powdery mildew. I mentioned profusion zinnias. Those were specifically bred to have a really good resistance to powdery mildew, and there are more traditional type of zinnias that are coming out that have an enhanced resistance to it. So when you are shopping for zinnia, that's another thing that you want to look for is in the description of the variety.
[00:21:49] You wanna look for the terms. Resistant to powdery mildew, (powdery mildew) when you have powdery mildew, it looks like there's white powder on the leaves of the plant. Once they get that, those leaves start to die back, turn brown, and then the plant itself looks kind of icky.
[00:22:05] It's not a very good look. That's just something that happens to a lot of zinnia, especially the, the older heirloom types. And I know that that is. Likely to happen, and I just kind of accept that. But if you really want to prevent that, make sure that you're looking for varieties that have powdery mildew resistance.
[00:22:26] The next thing that you can do is make sure that you're giving your plants the proper spacing. Follow the spacing that's recommended on the seed packet. When your plants are crowded, it. Inhibits airflow around the plants that raises the humidity level. And when humidity levels are high, that is when disease thrives.
[00:22:47] When fungal diseases thrive, the other way that humidity gets. Increased around zinnia plants is when you are watering them from overhead. That's either sprinklers or when you're watering them with the hose. You are getting a bunch of water on the foliage of the plants. Ideally, you want to water zinnias either with drip irrigation or hand watering, directing the water at the base of the plant to keep the leaves dry.
[00:23:21] If you have sprinklers, as the only way of irrigating your zinnias, make sure that you're only running your sprinklers in the morning if you have overhead watering of your zinnias in the evening. That those water droplets will stay on the plant a lot longer because the sun and the warmer daytime temperatures aren't there to speed up that evaporation process.
[00:23:45] So always make sure that you're watering your plants in the morning to help cut down on problems with powdery mildew. Make sure you're spacing them enough and also look for varieties that are described as powdery mildew resistant. The great thing I mentioned about zinnias that I love is that they can come back on their own.
[00:24:08] This is called reseeding toward the end of the season, we want to stop deadheading because we want our flowers to fully die back, and that's when the seeds are fully mature, and then we want to let that plant naturally drop those seeds to the ground, or we can cut off those totally dry, brown and brittle.
[00:24:33] Flower heads and we can kind of crush them up and sprinkle the seeds around that area so that zinnia will come back the next year
[00:24:42] if you want to learn more about how to get your annuals to behave like perennials through the receding process, I'm teaching a class all about it on September 13th, and that is. A class called low maintenance gardening with perennials and selfs seeding annuals. And I'm gonna talk about the best perennials for North Texas.
[00:25:03] And it's perfect timing because October is the best month to plant perennials in North Texas. And I will let you know exactly the best ones for your landscape in that class. And I'll talk about how to encourage your zinnias to come back
[00:25:18] and how to encourage. Other annuals to drop their seeds and come back as well. A link to that class is in the show notes. I hope that you learn something new today. Even if you walk away with only one new nugget of information, that one nugget when put into action is going to make a huge difference in your garden. Happy gardening.
[00:25:43] Now that you know about all these different types of zinnia, go and hop on to an online seed company, see what kinds of zinnia that they offer, bounce around online to different seed companies so you can see the full breadth of the different wonderful zinnias that are available, and then you can get really excited for growing them next year.
[00:26:04] In the show notes. You'll also find a bunch of other links there to our upcoming class schedules. I also link to my Instagram account where I offer lots of education as well. And then you can also sign up for my emails. I send out emails every single week with.
[00:26:26] More gardening education, more gardening lessons. They're chockfull of great info. Also, in the show notes, I'm going to leave a link where you can get on the waiting list for. The 2026 planner and be one of the first people to get notified when that is available so that you can take advantage of the free gift that I will reveal very soon.
[00:26:51] So stay tuned right here to the podcast. Happy gardening and happy Xenia growing.
