Rita, I can't wait to see all those beds in bloom. I just know they will be spectacular. You be sure and take lots of photos when your blooms begin to pop, cause by that time, mine will be slowing down and you know I'm going to need to see some beautiful blooms to keep me happy!!! LOL
Jan

Rita;I am like Jan.Hope you will be taking lots and lots of pictures when all your gardens start blooming.I KNOW THEY WILL BE BEAUTIFUL.The Zinnia's you planted,are they the BIG ones with huge blooms and tall?They are always so pretty.I use to grow a lot of them years ago.

Jean

Nothing wrong with a quick fix. And the color you get from annuals can't be beat. It's going to be beautiful!
Kathy

I was trying to buy the Cut and Come Again Zinnias I bought in flats last year. But when I brought them home, I saw that I had bought STATE FAIR instead. I had State Fair Zinnias here last year also but I started them from seed myself. The State Fair have much larger flowers than the Cut and Come Again Zinnias do. They are really beautiful. But I really love zinnias. I like the modern Profusion ones but I much prefer the old fashioned zinnias. Once they start blooming they just keep right on going like that Energizer Bunny. The only drawback that they used to have is that they get powdery mildew. Not a problem for me anymore since I got into roses and now just hit the zinnias every two weeks with the fungicide when I spray my roses. Clean no crud Zinnias, just like magic!!

They are the easiest flower in the world to start from seed. I only buy the little plants instead of starting my own seed to save time.

Some squirrell or something dug up some of the little plants overnight so I had to fix some of them. Then I wanted again.

Its on a steep slope so difficult to hold water. Zinnias are not too fussy so should be ok.

I especially loved zinnias as a child - they were my favorite flower because they were so colorful & cheerful, like rainbow sprinkles on an ice cream sundae.

Looks good to me and the butterflies will love the zinnias. This is the first year in forever that I didn't plant more of them. The only ones I have coming up are the ones that reseeded themselves from last year.

I like for my gardens to change every year so they never really look the year before. Well that's true for everything except my tropical beds and I like for them to look the same and replant things in the same places if they can't over winter outside.

Looks like you did a good job on everything Rita. Please do keep posting photos as everything starts to grow and bloom.

Happy Gardening,
Marian

Things move around here too. I mean not really the same plants but I will buy annuals and they are usually not planted in the same spot one year after another.

Of course sometimes its just because it didn't work out so good. I put cosmos between the daylilies upstairs and zinnias between the daylilies in the terrace garden last year and both grew too big and wanted to crowd. So this year those are planted again but off my themselves.

I do love zinnias Intend to make somewhere around here perment for them. You can't beat their color and they just bloom and bloom.

Rita, you have a special talet in design. I can't wait to see what you will do next. I think they ( beds ) will be stunning. How lucky your neighbors are! Ellie

We had three rainey days and I could not go out and garden. Yesterday it cleared up in the afternoon so I was out there doing odds and ends. Before I went out for the day, I was actually starting to go bonkers from boredom of not gardening for afew days.

I was looking at the front yard garden were I planted those zinnias and its looking really good. When its blooming it should look wonderful along there. All in all, I am pleased as I feel that I got more done on the garden section than I thought I would be able to do early this spring. Due to the fact that it has those two end sections of daylilies and then the two rows accross the front, I think there will be a respectable show during bloom season. Of course, those two front rows are new daylilies and not yet clumps but its a great start (or at least I think so).

Those little zinnias are growing well. What just started as an afterthought (I had to do something to fill up the space) I think is going to turn out very well indeed.

This will be the first year in decades I haven't grown Zinnias. I have one bed dedicated to them and it was time to give it a much needed Zinnia nap. There are so many varieties of the taller cut flower variety. I love the stripes (Candy Cane etc.). If you spray for mildew as you do, you may just want to dedicate a place for these beautiful annuals yourself.

This year I bought a dial and spray hose end sprayer and today is the second time I am using it. Makes spraying really easy, at least in my opinion. No mixing, I just pour the Bayer Advanced Desease Control fungicide in the container, dial the correct dosage and spray away. Any leftover is just poured back in the bottle as its not diluted.

This made it easy to spray not only the roses but to give the bulb lilies a quick shot as I was going along. They can get botrytis (spelling?) a fungal desease and it was a very wet spring. As I have about 800 bulb lilies and saw a speck here or there, I did not want any fungus to get a chance to get started. And my Zinnias are always the wonder of the neighborhood as they never get mildew unlike others down the block. Of course its because I spray them also while doing my rounds.

I really love zinnias but I never seem to have any of the fancy kinds. I usually have Peter Pan zinnias, Cut and Come Again, State Farm or Catcus flowered. One year I had this little short pom pom type but can't remember the name. I wanted to do a circle garden here close to were the terraces garden is and put all spring flowering bulbs and then zinnias for the summer but I could get to doing that bed. Its still on the list of plans and I will do it eventually.

I forgot to take a picture but those zinnias out front are starting to bloom. I really like the effect of the color up on the hill that will last all summer. I really do love zinnias and try to find a place for them every year. But what started out as a happy accident just might become a permant thing in that section of the garden.