ZINNIA
Family COMPOSITAE
Zinnia elegans
Annual
Known in its country of origin, Mexico, as Youth
and Old Age.
An annual of upright habit with stems that rise
to two and a half feet with daisy-like flowers,
four and a half inches across.
The double-flowered varieties of garden origin
possess a wide range of colours that may vary
from white to yellow, orange, scarlet, crimson
and almost every conceivable shade except blue.
Zinnia haageana, of tropical America, has orange-scarlet
flowers of single form.
It is only in a really hot summer that Zinnias
can be relied upon to give of their best in Britain.
Seed may be sown in a house or cold frame in mid-March,
and the seedlings potted as soon as the first
pair of natural leaves appear, and planted out
in mid-May.
In warm seasons seed may be sown outdoors in late
April and thinned out.
Zinnias need a sunny position and a deep, humus-rich,
well-drained soil.
Propagation is from seed.
The flowering season is from late July until frost.
Zinnia
Half Hardy Annual.
One foot to thirty inches.
Flowers of many colours, July to October.
The Zinnia is one of the showiest of summer annuals,
and has several excellent qualities of growth;
it is stiff and self-supporting, rejoices in dry
weather and blazing sunshine, and the flowers,
though rather harsh and papery in texture, are
of vivid colour and stand bad weather very well.
It will grow in any tolerable soil, but should
be fully exposed to the sun.
The flowers are half globular, very closely set
with imbricated petals, something in the way of
the African Marigold.
Among a batch of seedlings there will always be
some singles, with a high conical centre covered
with little florets.
The colours range from a
rather dead white through buff, light and strong
yellow, light rose (a very beautiful colour),
salmon, orange, pale purple or lilac, to scarlet
and deep crimson.
Besides the ordinary tall strain,
two feet or more high, there is a race of dwarf
hybrids, not exceeding fifteen inches; the flowers
are identical with those of the taller growth.
Sow the seeds about an inch apart in boxes of
light soil on a moderate heat (about 60°)
not earlier than the middle of April, as the plants
grow rapidly, and become drawn and leggy if left
too long under glass.
Prick out four inches apart
in a cold frame, and put out in beds or borders
in May.
On light warm soils seed may be sown in
drills half an inch deep the second week in May;
the plants must be thinned, and allowed to flower
where they stand.
In exposed and windy places Zinnias may need support
from inconspicuous sticks, as their growth is
somewhat brittle. |
