One of the main goals
Of my garden
Is to have cutting flowers
All season long.
And because the foundation
Of my garden
Is perennials
I rely on self seeding annuals
To fill in the gaps between
Perennial bloom cycles.
It starts in the spring
With Poppies and Larkspur
Then comes the heroes of summer
Cleome and Zinnias.
Poppies, Larkspur and Cleome
All manage to return on their own.
They just show up and bloom their hearts out.
Zinnias return on their own
But to a lesser degree.
So I have to plant Zinnia seeds each year.
The good thing about that
Is that I can time them…a bit.
I want zinnias blooming in the fall
Just as the Monarchs migrate to Mexico.
Photo Credit “Devra” Mitchell
So I don’t plant the seeds
Until June.
I pull up the Poppies and Larkspur
After they go to seed
And plant Zinnias in their place.
In my neck of the woods
I have until July 4th
To accomplish this.
Zinnias do have one bad characteristic.
They are prone to mildew.
Which is another reason
Not to plant them too early.
Spring rains will do a number on them for sure.
Since summer is the dry season around here
It’s perfect for growing zinnias.
We’ve had 7 1/2 ” of rain
In the last 3 weeks!
Mildew has arrived.
The plants are really ugly
But the flowers are the same
Sunny happy faces that I love.
They are perfect cutting flowers
Playing nice with all kinds of other blooms.
It’s another life lesson of nature.
A crusty outside
Often accompanies
A loving heart.
Gail
In My Garden 