Hot summer perfect for profusion zinnias
JULY 17, 2003
JANET RUSSELL
Victoria County Master Gardener
Profusion zinnias (z. angustifolia) have won a favorite place in my garden. I
love the bright, cheery little flowers they produce. They keep on blooming when
everything else is exhausted from heat and humidity. I planted a few last spring and was so pleased with their performance, I planted
nine flats this spring. So far I have not been disappointed. My old-fashioned
zinnias have horrible-looking foliage by the end of June, but these little
babies still look great.
Profusion zinnias come in three
colors: white, vivid orange and cherry. They mound very similar to impatiens.
The flowers are 2 1/2-inch single, daisy-like flowers. They grow 8 to 12 inches
tall and spread 12 to 24 inches. The plants resist powdery mildew and bacterial
leaf spot. No pinching or pruning is needed to have continuous blooms. What
more could you want from a plant? It is a hands-off gardening type of plant and
is perfect for our hot
I have three colors mixed in mass
planting in my flowerbeds in front of my house. I randomly planted others to
have splashes of color in various beds. They also grow well in containers. They
started blooming in May and should continue blooming until the first frost.
Sunny beds and not too much water are the tricks to having full plants. Several
of my plants ended up in partial shade and have stayed small and leggy but keep
blooming. I also planted them in the same sprinkler station with impatiens and
have had to hand water the impatiens. It was really not a problem until I went
on vacation for two weeks and had to get someone to water the impatiens. So
remember those different stations and keep like plants in mind.
The orange variety has been my
favorite. That was a surprise because I am not wild about orange. It is a great
flower for UT fans. It is the easiest to grow and the showiest. Also, the
orange is the only one that reseeded from the previous summer. The white and
cherry are very hard to start from seed and better started from small plants.
In one bed along a fence, I put some
melampodium (Melampodium leucanthum) yellow variety behind the orange profusion
zinnias and it made a great show of color.
The melampodium
is another plant that blooms all summer and requires the same amount of sun and
water although it can take a little more shade than the profusion zinnias. It
is a great companion plant for this variety of zinnias. It is important when
doing companion planting that you make sure your plants have the same
requirements of soil, sun and water. Melampodium also
comes in white but does not grow as tall as the yellow variety. The while grows
to about 12 inches and the yellow gets about twice that size. Both spread to 12
to 15 inches and reseed like crazy.
The seed packet recommends spring
planting, but our hot weather last longer than other areas. It's probably not
too late to enjoy these if you get your seeds planted quickly. They thrive in
hot weather and perform best if planted from late April until August. Late
summer plantings may need additional watering attention to ensure germination
and young healthy plants. Another alternative--a gardening friend did buy
profusion zinnia plants in a local nursery in the first week of July.
The profusion zinnias hve won the All-American Selection award due to the ease of
growing, length of flowering and disease resistance. This is a great plant in
my yard. If you would like to see the profusion zinnias in bloom, it is planted
in the
