A humble garden flower...

When we moved to Red Gate Farm, the first flowers I grew from seed were Zinnias.  They're pretty easy to grow from seed and we had a great flower filled garden that year.

Since then, each year I've purchased and planted new varieties.  Trying out new ones and keeping some of the old ones.

Last year I grew these profusion series with pink centers for the first time.... I liked them, so they returned for an encore this year.

They're lower growing, sort of bushy and fill up the round bed around my Magnolia... along with plain white Profusion Zinnias.

I also like these low growing Mexican Zinnias.  They fill up the areas around my sunflowers.

I think what I love most about Zinnias is how different each one is from the other.... they come in all kinds of colors, shapes and sizes...

Just like all of us...

From soft and pink...

To vibrant red...

They mix well with chippy cement chickens....

And yet they dress up nicely as cut flowers for inside my house.

I grow them in flower beds...

and in the veggie garden for cutting.

They don't need a lot of attention and like my sandy loam soil.  This new one is fun... I think it was called Cherry Swizzle.  It's a fairly short one and very busy so it won't make a good cut flower.

But my newest favorite,Tequila Lime, does...

And my all time favorite, of course, is the Envy Zinnia.... it makes a fabulous cut flower.

Here's to enjoying a humble, simple flower... the zinnia.

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