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Thinking of adding some zinnias to your garden but are n’t certain if you ’ll want to replant them every year ? Many gardeners ask this basic interrogative sentence , as it can get extra work each growing season . In this article , horticulture and bloom expert Taylor Sievers examines the zinnia bloom , and whether it ’s an annual or repeated .
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Close your eyes and call back aboutthe perfect garden peak . I ’m sure a few key characteristics come to your mind when you guess of this everlasting plant . I ’ve got a industrial plant in mind , so let ’s roll through a few of the most suitable characteristics we could wait from this garden plant here :
Easy to grow ? Check . passion and drought large-minded ? Check . Big , beautiful , pollyannaish blooms ? checker . Long flower time ? Check . Pollinator - friendly ? Check , checker , and check ! Have you guessed what flower I ’m thinking of yet ? Drumroll , please … It ’s the zinnia flower!These plants from the Asteraceae home ( along with asters and sunflower ) have been a garden staple for many years .
have ’s say you ’ve decide to plant some of these flush because you want everlasting colour in your garden . You want that patch in the backyard to begorgeous for as long as possible ! But now that you ’ve got your horticulture cap on , you may be think … Will my zinnia come back yr after year , or will they only blossom for one year ?
Are Zinnias Annuals or Perennials?
It depends on the species we are verbalize about , but regardless , zinniasareusually treated as annualsin the horticulture world . There are a fewperennial speciesthat we ’ll blab about below , but these species are typically not sell in plant nurseries or traditional come companies , and therefore are mostly discover growing in the wilderness .
So , what exactly is the differencebetween an annual and a perennial ?
Annual plants are those thatcomplete their life hertz in one year . This mean that the plant will sprout , grow , flower , and set germ usually within the Spring to fall down timeframe ( depending on the plant and where you dwell ) .
repeated plants are those thatcomplete their lifetime bike over many year . Some are dead - lived , while others are long - lived . Most of the prison term these plants are easy - maturate andmay even have woody growth(though not always ) .
Their aboveground growth ( the stems and foliage ) may die back during winter , but their belowground growing ( root , tubers , bulbs , or rootstock ) are still animated , and they work as storage electric organ for the plant . They salt away all the energy for the undermentioned Spring when the plant will break dormancy and begin growing topgrowth again .
Once established ( which may take a few years ) , some repeated plant life willcontinue to flower every year , and they may even flower within the first year of planting , but they ’ll become larger and more vigorous as they age . ordinarily , there are earlysigns your old maid flower wo n’t make it past a year , but many do and last quite a long fourth dimension .
Sometimes , as originative and adventurous gardener that like to labour the limit , we may “ treat ” a tight - rise perennial blossoming flora like anannual flowering plant . This means that instead of allowing the plant to live on into year two and beyond , we eitherdiscard it or at least cleared the spacefor other plants in the future . Sometimes we do this because bloom takes so much energy out of the plant that it will take a few years to recover .
A great good example of this is in tulip flower yield by commercial cut flower growers . Tulips are perennial in nature . Every year , the foliage go forth from a lightbulb , and then a beautiful flower is produced . We can let the leaf die back of course in hopes that a Modern blossom will issue the next year , and many home gardeners do this .
In commercial cut blossom production , the cultivator is reap the flower stems so that they ’re as long as possible for the oddment - exploiter ( unremarkably , the florist ) , and this harvesting mental process takes away leaf from the industrial plant . As we know from high school biology , leaves are responsible for for photosynthesizing , and thus responsible for producing free energy for the plant .
The following year after the tulip flower harvest , foliage may come forth from the tulip bulb , butyou wo n’t see flowers for a year or two . The flora needs to regain vitality for bloom once more because making such beautiful flowers consumesa lotof energy .
So , cut flower growers will often “ treat ” tulip like an annual . Every yearthey purchase new bulbsrather than worrying about whether their tulips will flower the following year or not .
Zinnias are such gentle - to - grow - from - seed plants that many gardeners will choose tocollect zinnia seedsfrom their own plant or purchase raw seeds . Also , in some cases , zinnias may reseed themselvesin the garden , too .
Another reason a gardener might treat a repeated plant as an yearbook is that the flora may not survive the winter in that nurseryman ’s hardiness geographical zone . Zinnias aremostly native to the southern United States and Mexico , so in grow zones that are north of these areas , a perennial zinnia may not survive the Winter . Therefore , zinnias would need to be seed again in the Spring , unless the gardener design to take the plants in for the Winter ( which may or may not be successful anyway ) .
Popular Zinnia Species and Varieties
Below aresome popularvarieties within each different specie of zinnia . In totality , there are17 speciesof flowers in theZinniagenus . This wee for a wide change ofdifferent flower typesthat can suit almost any garden .
Annual Zinnias
The species of zinnias that are considered yearbook aremost democratic for the home garden and landscape . yearly zinnias are mostly used alongside a vegetable garden to attract pollinators , as a excision bloom , or at the edge of a landscape bed to provide groundcover and color .
By far , this is the most popular old maid flower species . If you ’ve see a zinnia before , it was most potential a variety of the speciesZ. elegans . This species is an annual that produces1 to 3 - foot tall plantswith large flower .
This mintage spring up about 2 feet tall with flower blossom about 1 to 2 inch wide . Many of the efflorescence are two - toned .
plant in this species are used mostly in mete , container , and hang baskets due to their low - grow nature , withdwarf varieties as scummy as 6 inches magniloquent . Some varieties can be as tall as 3 feet , however .
Also known as “ playing area old maid flower ” , this species is an annual that thrives in hot , dry climates . Because it well reseed , it is study weedy in some areas . The works will get through 1 to 3 foot in height with blooms of 1 to 3 column inch across . The blossom aretypically reddish - orangish , though some can be goldish - yellow in color .
Perennial Zinnias
The species highlight below are often institute develop in the wild , with many of the species beingnative to the United States and Mexico . These species are usually not readily useable to buy from a plant nursery , but in some instances , the seed may be available for cut-rate sale from native works seed company or you may collect seeded player yourself . check that to follow United States Department of State law in regard to collecting seeds or propagating violent species of plants .
This plant is a mounding recurrent specie ( up to USDA Zone 4 ) known as “ wild zinnia ” , “ Rocky Mountain old maid flower ” , or “ golden eye ” . Wild zinnias maturate about4 to 8 inch talland open by rootstalk , dissemble as a groundcover . The flower are typically yellowish , and it thrives on furrowed terrain in warm , sunny areas . This plant can also be propagated by division or cuttings .
Also known as “ desert zinnia ” or “ shrubby zinnia ” , this metal money is a perennial ( up to USDA Zone 6 ) with a woody bag and herbaceous stems that become woody as the industrial plant ages . Desert zinnia is low - growing and has silvery - green leaves and halt . It is found inprairies , plains , savannah , and hayfield at high elevationsand will go dormant during a drought . The petal are creamy - white with bright yellow center ( magnetic disk flowers ) .
Also known as “ shortray old maid ” , this species has5 to 8 clearly stubby petalsor no petals at all . Shortray zinnia will live on as a perennial up to USDA Zone 8 . It is weigh a sub - bush , or rather , a low - growing perennial with a woody stem .
Final Thoughts
First off , if you have n’t already , I encourage you to sample your helping hand at raise zinnias in your garden . You will likely be exalt at the result ! More significantly , though , I hope you ’ve at least gleaned some noesis on thedifference between annuals and perennials , and how we , as nurseryman , can push the limits to achieve variety and beauty in our gardens .
Whichever mintage or variety of zinnia you choose to develop , one thing is fairly consistent : the bloomspack a coloured punchto any landscape ( well , except perchance the shortray zinnia ) and each bloom is pollinator heaven , too !
