Colorful, flowering bouquets arranged with textured foliage make homes more comfortable and enjoyable throughout the winter months. One of the easier and more dependable flowering plants that delivers a rainbow of color for making indoor arrangements is zinnias.
Zinnias come in a wide range of varieties and produce bold color and striking flowers. They are a great choice for cut flowers and perform well in the fall and winter months.
The zinnia elegans, that includes the Benary Giant series, is the more popular and traditional variety of zinnia grown for cut flowers. The crystal and Star series are narrow-leaf zinnias with flower colors available in gold, orange and white. The newest hybrid zinnias include crosses between the narrow leaf zinnias and the older zinnia varieties and are called the Profussion and Zaharra series. Available flower colors are white, orange, cherry, fire and apricot.
Zinnias are susceptible to a few disease problems such as flower and petal blight, powdery mildew and leaf spots, all caused by fungus and bacteria. However, these diseases often occur less frequently with late summer and early fall plantings as compared with spring planting. Providing a well drained soil and thinning out growth to allow adequate air movement between plants will greatly reduce the chance of these diseases.
Overall, zinnias require low care and often provide great satisfaction for their ease of production and their beauty as the ultimate cut flower.
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