Zinnia ‘Peppermint Stick’

One way to add some pizzazz to your flowerbed is to plant Zinnia ‘Peppermint Stick’. The flowers come in interesting colors full of speckles, splashes and stripes.

Even this mutant that appeared a few years ago was beautiful in its own wacky way:

Last year I grew Zinnia ‘Whirligig’ instead, and the flowers are more bi-toned and just not as interesting. Plus they didn’t perform nearly as well as ‘Peppermint Stick’.

‘Peppermint Stick’ grows 2 to 3 feet tall in full sun to partial shade. I start my plants indoors, but you can also direct-sow zinnia seeds in the garden when the soil warms up in late spring.