Ken, For a variety of reasons your zinnias have gotten off to a rather bad start. You probably started them too soon for what you intended to do. You can set zinnias into deeper soil, and roots can start from buried stems. Their growing conditions must have been very much not to their liking, because I have had indoor zinnias bloom as early as 5 weeks from when I planted them. I grow my zinnias under bright fluorescent lights with at least 16 hours of light per day. Zinnias don't get enough light on a window sill, and not enough day length. I start my zinnias in 3-inch square pots: If they are going to be inside for several weeks, I repot them to 5-inch square pots, and they can bloom in that size of pot. Actually, they can bloom in a 3-inch pot, but that is a rather sad sight of a zinnia being abused. ZM

how do you tell the difference between Easter cactus and Christmas cactus i have several that bloom pink but not to sure what type they are, and they bloom when ever twice a year.

I grew them last year and had that "not enough wow" experience in the garden bed too. I thought that maybe they were not getting enough sun. This year I decided to plant them in a big barrel in full sun with some Yvones Salvia, purple verbena, a big dahlia (unknown color yet) and white petunias. It looks much, much better in the barrel, is kind of popping through the other flowers. I like it a lot better. So for those you you who will end up with it next year cause you can't stand the seed to go to waste (take one to know one!) try it in a big planter with other fuller plants.

Hi Stir_Fry, Wow! I have never seen zinnia damage like that. " Now.... what to do. Can they be saved? Should I cut them to the ground or just keep watering them???? " Well, if you didn't have any further attacks from a Tyrannosaurus Rabbit, they could be saved. For the one in the photo, cut off what remains of the flower (it is a drain on the plant's meager resources) and water and foliar feed what remains of the plant with Miracle-Gro Tomato Food (its extra Magnesium is also appreciated by zinnias, because Chlorophyll contains Magnesium.} New branches will sprout at the base of what used to be the leaves. But as long as whatever did the damage remains "at large", reviving and restoring the plant(s) seems pointless. If damage like that happened to one of my zinnias, I would be tempted to invest in a game camera and mount it so as to keep my zinnias in the frame so that I could get photos or video footage of the villain(s). " We have rabbit problems around here. " Do your neighbors also have problems like this? This doesn't look like damage that a neighborhood would tolerate. We live in a rural area and rabbits are common here (along with raccoons, possums, wild turkeys, squirrels, feral cats, foxes, coyotes, bobcats, deer, and the occasional mountain lion) and nothing has bothered my zinnias. My kohlrabi are the only thing rabbits have damaged. Occasionally deer will leave deep tracks in my zinnia beds, but there is no evidence of them eating zinnias or anything in our gardens and the deer tracks cause very minimal damage. It looks like you will have to protect your zinnias with something like a chicken wire fence. But the problem there is that chicken wire isn't very ornamental. I have found that a 2-foot high chicken wire fence will stop a rabbit, even though they could probably jump over it. A guess they don't think it is worth the effort. I guess you have to decide whether growing zinnias in your area is worth the effort. ZM