Zinnias that Zing

Zinnias are one of my favorite garden flowers. As a child, I would help my dad plant a zinnia garden alongside the house. We created a riotous explosion of color – red, yellow, orange, chartreuse, and pink – every color we could find.  The first blooms would appear in June. By July, the garden was full of color and blooms of every size imaginable. We had the itty bitty Lilliput Zinnias and the great big, State Fair Zinnias as well as everything in between. Each day I would gather my favorites and add them to a bouquet on the table. The amazing thing was the more I cut, the more they would bloom – clear through October and right up to the arrival of the first frost. I don’t think we ever made it to Thanksgiving but often, our little zinnia garden would provide colorful blooms for festive pumpkin arrangements at Halloween.