When it comes time for me to choose which tall zinnias to plant in my flowerbeds, I always seem to gravitate toward two colors in the Benary’s Giant series.
I just adore the blackish-red color of ‘Benary’s Deep Red’. The rich hue looks gorgeous hovering over dark-green foliage, and this cultivar blends easily with dark-purple, gold, pink or even orange flowers.
A few years ago a new color became available and it wasn’t long before I was planting it everywhere. ‘Benary’s Giant Wine’ has eye-catching burgundy flowers.
Benary’s zinnias grow 40 inches tall. They prefer full sun but they’ll tolerate partial-sun. They are easy to direct-sow in the garden in late spring, but you can start them indoors about 4 weeks before the last average frost in your area.
Years ago I direct-sowed all my zinnias, but over time I switched to starting them indoors because the rodents were giving me such trouble with their incessant digging. Last spring I was able to use deer fencing to protect one of my flowerbeds. I direct-sowed a few rows of zinnias and they did very well. Since zinnias don’t particularly like being transplanted I thought the direct-sown plants might perform better than the ones I transplanted into the flowerbed later, but by mid-summer I couldn’t tell the difference between the two.
Zinnias are a relatively cheap way to add rich color to your flowerbeds. If you keep them deadheaded they’ll keep blooming all summer long.
2 comments
These zinnias look fantastic! I am planning to try a shorter variety this year: too windy for the taller varieties. When do you start your zinnias? This has been a terrible cold, windy and snowy winter with no end in sight. No seed starting yet. I am thinking about using the Baggie Method to begin my Rudbeckia, even though the seeds are so small. Have you tried that method? How is your seeding coming along? James
I share your winter misery. This has been our 11th coldest winter on record and the coldest in 35 years. Even in this first week of March our temperatures are running about 30 degrees below normal! I usually start sowing seeds 12 or 13 weeks before the last average frost date which would’ve been February 17th or 24th this year, but I’ve held off. Tomorrow I will sow my first batch seeds, mostly rudbeckias and impatiens.
I usually start zinnias 5 or 6 weeks before our last average frost date (so in a normal year that would be about mid-April here). The tall zinnias I save until 4 weeks before because they shoot up so fast. Err on the side of starting zinnias later than sooner because zinnias sprout pretty easily and grow quickly and they HATE being pinched back. They will grow all stunted and goofy-looking.
I’ve always been intrigued by the the Baggie method, but I’ve never given it a try. If you do it, please keep me posted!
Comments are closed.