I second your holy cow with zinnias, farfaraway!

I planted some on 4/11 and they started popping yesterday, 4/17, and it's been mostly 50s during the day this week. I also planted some marigolds and zinnias on 4/5, and they were up by 4/11. The 4/5 zinnias are starting their first sets of leaves. They are amazing!

I have four different zinnia varieties: peppermint stick, envy (neat color!), fruit smoothie, and cut and come again. I am looking forward to seeing a BUNCH of color this summer. My 5 yr. old is thrilled to hear this is a flower she can PICK and make bouquets. :)

cheers and happy sprouting,

Nora

WOW--zinnias sown on 4/5 already have their first sets of true leaves??? That's crazy! I love it!

I also have four kinds of zinnias: peppermint stick, small mixed, lavender queen and enchantress (which I picked because I loved the name--and luckily, it looks gorgeous in the pics!). Don't you just love the zinnia names?

I also sowed two kinds of marigolds, lupines, cosmos and globe amaranth that day, and they've all sprouted and are growing like crazy.

It's amazing how quickly things sprout when soil temps are warmer, isn't it?

That's why I generally wait until late spring like you did to sow them. They will germinate so easily and are so offended by frost. Try cosmos - same thing.

It has been chilly, rainy and overcast here too. But...the Zinnias I WS with my 4 yr. old nanny boy a week ago are up. Also Statice is up. We planted Candy Cane, Yellow, Red, Purple, Pink, White and also the small Lilliput Zinnias. We plant them so we can cut bouquets for the table all summer.
Happy spring! We are finally going to have a rain-free weekend in Kansas! Yippee!!

I've been contemplating growing some zinnias. I've been waiting because I had some die during an April frost last year ... although I think that was earlier in April. I may give it a shot, and save some seeds back just in case. I was shocked last year by how incredibly quick my zinnias shot up. They were my fastest germinator.

I think I'll try California Giant. Anyone grown these before, and what did you think of them?

Same here Mo_girl and this April is giving us the same below average temps. At least between today and mid next week we will be getting only 40's and mid 20's for the lows! I'm waiting until the lows come up again before I start mine. Cosmic Orange Cosmo are already up and they made it thru a few days nights with lows of 32, but tonight may get down to 28-29 and can't rick those 12 gorgeous little sprouts LOL! It's hard to believe the last avr. frost date is less than 1 mo. away with weather like this :(

I did the California Giants and they were FANTASTIC! They bloomed and stayed bloomed all summer. I even moved a couple of them to another spot and they survived the transplant (and it was in the summer).

I am doing more of them this year. I got my seeds in Walmart - they were cheap but did the job!

Carrie

Sounds good Carrie!

I got some of these in trade this year:D I'll be doing those, Beaudry's Giant, Giant Cactus, Giant Purple, Green Envy and my Cherry Profusion. I'm really curious to see if these Cherry come true again 3rd time from saved seed...actually 4th time around as they were harvested by someone else before making it to me! Never grew Zinnia before winter-sowing and now look at me; completely hooked :)))

I'm waiting to sow the Zinnias until bit closer to the end of April. Thinking of using yogurt cups for Profusion Apricot, Profusion white, Persian Carpet, Red Spider, Scarlet Dahlia (tall red).

Also going to direct sow Cut & Come Again and California Giants - I've grown these before and the Butterflies and Hummingbirds love them.

I plan on spring sowing my Zinnias the first week of May. I have these to sow, along with my 1 type of Dahlias

Dahlia, Unwins Dwarf
Zinnia Giants of California
Zinnia Thumbelina
Zinnia Dwarf Pumila Sprite, mixed colors
Zinnia Giant Cactus, mixed colors
Zinnia Lilliput
Zinnia White Perfection
Zinnia Apricot Profusion
Zinnia Candy Cane

All of them I got dirt cheap at Walmarts, except for Apricot Profusion - Renee's Garden
Zinnia White Perfection - trade

I may have to break down and buy 1 more color, Green Envy. I really like the idea of green zinnias to mix it up. If anybody is up for a trade or sase for Green Envy, let me know. All I have left for seeds, is tomatoes and these Zinnias to trade with though.

Melissa

This is my first time WSing zinnias and I was surprised to go out today and find the Spider and Candy Cane containers had large sprouts after just 6 days. These are my DH's favourite and I was a little worried about my success rate, so I didn't tell him I was sowing them. Tomorrow is his birthday, so I'll give him the good news.

When sowing Zinnia seeds for bouquets I always sow twice as many white as each individual color. I do this because I use them for cheery bouquets and the extra white ones mixed in helps separate the other colors so they really stand out. Also do the Lilliput variety to add interest to the bouquet along with Statice to add a different shape. There are many Hostas around so I often cut some big leaves where the absence won't be noticed and use those in the Zinnia vase. In addition, there is a lot of invasive English Ivy that I cut and let trail out of the vases, looks real pretty and that lasts from vase to vase, no need to toss the ivy stems every time you redo your bouquets.
Here is a great flower vase preservative recipe I got from one of the GW forums:
I gallon water
2 T. sugar (I melt it in the microwave in a little water)
2 T. white vinegar
1 t. bleach
Mix it all together in a plastic detergent jug and use it in your flower vases. The flowers stay nice for a full week. Always remember to strip the stems to water level so leaves don't touch or sit in the water.
Zinnias give us so much beauty for so little work. They are one of my very favorites, can you tell?
TrowelGal

This is my first time growing zinnias (and just about everything else on my WS list) and I'm so excited to have flowers all summer long. I plan on planting them all over my property. It will be wonderful to give bouquets away any time we visit friends or someone comes here.

I've heard that zinnias are terrible for powdery mildew, and I've not chosen any mildew-resistant varieties. Anyone have any tips for preventing mildew?

Don't plant them too close together and water at the roots, never on the leaves. It is hard to avoid P.M. but at least it doesn't start until quite late in the summer.
Trowelgal

Trowelgal: That doesn't always do it. We had no rain for months last summer, and I watered only at the roots. But in the horried heat and drought, powdery mildew ran rampant in my yard like nothing I have ever seen. I think that plants that are stressed for any reason are just more prone to it, too. It was our hottest, dryest (i.e. no rain, but lots of humidity) summer ever, and all plants of were very stressed. It got downright ugly
{{gwi:309582}}
The only zins not bothered by the PM where the profusions.

Karen

That looks pretty sad, Karen. I'm in Columbus and I remember how bad last summer was. I do have soaker hoses installed in my front beds, but even with them running every day or two, I lost several baby perennials.

I've heard that when monardas get PM, you can cut them back hard and they'll come back and bloom again. If you do this to an annual like a zinnia, will you kill it? Would it even work?

Karen,
Sorry it was so rough for you last summer with your Zinnias. Hope this is a better year, they really are so pretty.
Trowelgal

Thanks, I hope so. I have grown zins for years, even long before I found wintersowing, and never saw anything like that. The extreme heat and extreme drought were awful, and everything looked bad by late summer.

We're starting this year with excessive rain (something like 8 inches above norm so far for the year), so heaven knows what this year might hold. We even had a 5.2 magnitude earthquake yesterday!

Karen

that same thing happened to my Verbena Bonariensis - the drought really caused a lot of stress