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Benary’s Giant Salmon Zinnias: Garden Favorites!
Zinnias were among the first flowers that I ever grew, or had even seen growing in a garden. Having grown up in the middle of the city, I wasn’t familiar with the concept that people had “gardens”. It is for this reason that I’m so fond of Benary’s Giant Salmon zinnias. They were the very first flowers that I had ever planted in my own little cut flower garden. They’re still one of my absolute favorites. Though Benary’s Giant Salmon zinnias are usually much less “double” than many of the other zinnias, I can’t help but feel that they make up for it with color. Just look at that range!…
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Harvest: More Benary’s Giant Zinnias from the Cut Flower Garden
One of my favorite things about the arrival of summer, is planting zinnias. No matter how many seasons go by, I am always eager to start my zinnia seeds and get my plants into the ground. With their extremely fast growth, they are quick to reward growers will armloads of flowers that can be used in cut flower arrangements or left in the yard for pollinators to enjoy. Above, you can see just how diverse these blooms actually are! From white to lime – zinnias come in almost every color, with a few exceptions. Let’s take a closer look at some of the blooms that I had this season. I…
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Benary’s Giant Scarlet Zinnias in the Cut Flower Garden
In continuing to update the blog with photos of the multitudes of zinnias that I’m growing this year – we come to the Benary’s Giant Scarlet zinnias! I’ll be the first to admit that red flowers aren’t really my favorite. They can be really harsh looking in cut flower arrangements, and not many people seem to gravitate towards the bright red bouquets. However, the same cannot be said for the hummingbirds! The Benary’s Giant Scarlet zinnias were hands down the most prolific zinnias of the summer. I planted one pack of 100 seeds, and was continuously rewarded with HUGE blooms. Ironically, I had intentionally placed these plants in a location…
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Floret ‘Golden Hour’ Zinnia is a Beauty!
This year, I went absolutely bonkers planting zinnias. I bought so many different varieties of these easy to grow flowers that my friends and family were a little worried that I may need to join some kind of support group. My order on the floret website was no exception to my zinnia madness. In fact, I was so happy to have grabbed a pack of these hard-to-get ‘Golden Hour’ zinnias. I do quite a bit of searching around when I’m shopping for flower seeds online. Floret is the only website that I’ve seen these seeds offered. I’ve looked over several catalogs to see if, per chance, they went by a…
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Trellising / Staking Zinnia Flowers in the Cut Flower Garden
As most of you already know, I had major issues getting the garden started this year. In fact, I’m still really struggling with motivation. However, I did manage to make it outside today to lay down some trellis netting on one of the zinnia beds. While I had originally planned to trellis all of the zinnias, I quickly found that I had inadvertently made most of the flower beds too wide. As you can see, I’m just using regular trellis netting. Most commonly, flower farmers use horti net for horizontal use. I already had this old stuff, so there was no sense in buying something new. This will be the…
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Zinnia Propagation: Rooting Zinnia Cuttings and Zinnia Stems in Water
My posts about zinnias are always some of the most popular ones on the blog. To me, it’s no surprise. Zinnias are so easy to grow AND they’re gorgeous. While there are several really pretty open pollinated varieties, seeds for some zinnia varieties can be pricey. It’s for this reason that I’ve found an interested in propagating zinnias from cuttings and rooting stems in water. Taking cuttings is really easy. All I do first, is make a cut below one of the leaf nodes. You can see in the picture above that I’ve carefully removed the very bottom set of leaves. While I’ve had quite a bit of success, it’s…
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In Bloom: ‘Benary’s Giant Lilac’ Zinnias in the Cut Flower Garden
One of the more disappointing aspects of not having a legitimate flower farm is that I never seem to have enough space. While, I’m extremely thankful for the space that I do have – I just wish that I had a little more. This is especially true when the time comes to plan which varieties of zinnias that I’ll grow in the garden. Most of the varieties of zinnia that I grew this year were in shade of purple. One of my favorites were the Benary’s Giant Lilac that I started from seed and then transplanted into the yard. I usually consider lilac to be more of a lighter shade,…
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How to Grow Zinnias from Seed
Zinnias are one of my absolute favorite flowers in the cut flower garden. When it comes to how to grow zinnias from seed, it’s pretty easy. Here in my yard, the zinnia flowers love my hot and humid weather. It’s not uncommon for them to reach heights of 6ft, and to stretch taller than my privacy fence. If you’re attempting to grow zinnias for the first time, you have a couple choices regarding when and how to start the seeds. The easiest way to start zinnias from seed is to direct sow them into the garden bed. First, you’ll need to wait until all chance of frost has passed. Amend…
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Growing Zinnias from Seed for Cut Flowers – Easy Cut Flower Garden
Zinnias are one of the first flowers that I ever started growing. Growing zinnias each year is my favorite garden task! While some people write them off as “too easy”, I absolutely cherish the zinnias that grow in my garden. Not only are the flowers gorgeous, but they’re insanely tough. Here in Kentucky, they have no trouble with our hot and ridiculously humid summers. Even when the Japanese beetles arrive, these flowers will not fade. I love them! Zinnias are also perfect for beginners, as there are so many ways to easily start the seed. While many may choose to start the seed indoors using grow lights and trays, there…
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Picking the Last Dahlias from the Garden – Pretend Cut Flower Farm
So, in my last blog post I said that I was going to start cleaning up the garden to get it ready for fall crops. I still haven’t done that. I haven’t even started. A pile of things that were way more important came up, and I had to just stopping worrying about it. I’m going to try to start working on it next week. The mess out there is honestly really intimidating. Today, I waded through the waist high weeds to pick the last of some really gorgeous cut flowers. I brought them in and knew that I had to arrange them. I recently bought some lights and a…
