At long last my Zinnia Envy has been cured. I have been cutting the Zinnias to encourage more flowers and it seems to be working. ‘Green Envy’ Zinnias are doing well and may end up being the best of the bunch. I am encouraged enough to try Dahlias now. I have another case of plant envy that includes Dahlias.
It was an oddly overcast, showery day for winter (dry season) in South Florida. This vase lifted my spirits with its brightly colored cast of characters. I had to stop a couple of times and wait for the rain to stop before I could gather more flowers. I am constantly surprised by the quantity of flowers I can cram into a vase.
The vase is a thrift store find I have enjoyed tremendously. The neutral color shows off highly colored plants well and I like the shape.
A closer view:
Purple foliage with white flowers is ‘Purple Prince’ Alternanthera, it seems to flower in the winter, though this is a new plant to me. I sprinkled a few bits of long suffering purple Lantana from my butterfly garden. Green Zinnias are ‘Green Envy’, grown from seed. Pale pink buttons are Globe Amaranth.
Pink and peach Zinnias are from a Cactus Zinnia seed mix. Peach and orangey spike flowers are from Tropical Red Salvia (Salvia coccinea) it is not always red and I love the variety of colors.
Thanks to Cathy at http://www.ramblinginthegarden.wordpress.com for hosting this weekly garden meme. Follow the link to see more vases.
Happy Hollydays!!
The Shrub Queen 
Your green zinnias are looking good.
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Thank you, I am enjoying them.
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Green Envy is lovely! I saw a similar greenish yellow zinnia at the flower show I visited in the summer, and this reminded me I wanted to find some seed. I haven’t grown any zinnias for a year or two, so perhaps I will this spring. I love the purple foliage you used, and the purple lantana… have never seen one that colour before. 😀
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Thank you, Cathy. The zinnias are pale chartreuse in real life. The purple Lantana is cruddy but feeds a butterfly now and again.
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I love this arrangement, Amelia. Your ‘Green Envy’ Zinnia looks better than any in that variety I’ve ever managed to grow and the fact that yours are growing in December still amazes me (although I have some ‘Profusion’ Zinnias that managed to avoid mildew and thus avoided my late October purge). I envy you the Alternanthera too – I’ve had trouble finding those plants here and have only a few scragglers left.
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Thanks, Kris. Try some seed! I am going to see if I can find out if it is day length or something that helped them along. Summer here is so brutal I don’t try the usual. The Alternanthera has multiplied as it roots easily in forgotten vases. Have you seen Red Velvet Aerva? That might be better in LA?
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You must be pleased to have had some rain! And what a lovely shaped vase yours is, yet another less-tropical looking contributiom 😉 Love the zinnias 👍
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I am very pleased about the rain as our irrigation system is unhappy now. The winter tropicals have not quite started yet and I have UK summer here! I am loving the zinnias too – do you start the seed in seed starting mix and then transplant the seedlings?
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Yes, I sow my zinnia in the greenhouse, then prick them out into 12 cell trays before potting them on into 6 cell trays. They then get planted out once frost is no longer likely, the earllier the better to ensure the maximum growing season and usually the end of April or early May
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Yes, the more sun the better? I checked the day length when the zinnia seed planting had the best success. 12 hours, 20 minutes. Do you know the day length when yours do best? An hour less of day length produced much less hardy plants.
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That’s really interesting. this year most of mine were sown on 23rd Feb (so less than 12 hours day length) and took 2 days to germinate, Pricked out 3 weeks later, potted on five weeks after that, and planted out mid May, about 11 weeks in total. If I sow extras a month or so later they are usually ready to plant out at the same time. It would be intersting to compare batches in terms of their hardiness although I am not quite sure how you could measure it
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Interesting, so day length is not the answer if you are growing them in February…
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They certainly reliably germinate in a couple of days, regardless of when they are sown
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Another lovely arrangement, Amy. I really love seeing fresh zinnias and am glad you’re having success with them. Can’t wait to see how the bags handle dahlias. 🙂
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Thanks, Eliza. I have to find some tubers first..no one shipping them so far though I might find some around here in the dregs.
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Well done! This is lovely. Zinnias provide so much cheer.
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Thank you, Susie.
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Dang; even if I could grow them, they would be done by now. Zinnias are enviable just because they do so well for everyone else.
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Think Zinnias are more difficult than advertised?
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I do not know. Everyone else seems to be able to grow them just fine. I just have not done well with them at all.
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Is it possibly a day length thing? have asked in the UK.
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That is doubtful, since, where they perform well, they do so in various seasons. I suspect that humidity is relevant, but they perform better in some desert regions than they do here.
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