How to Grow Zinnias

Squeeze the last bit of color out of your garden by planting zinnias. Learn how to grow zinnias in this eHow Home video:

When planting zinnias from seed, make sure the soil is warm and that the area gets plenty of sunshine. They just need moderate watering, but water near the bottom with a soaking hose rather than from overhead as they can get powdery mildew from too much water and the blooms won’t last as long.

Zinnias come in a wide variety of colors – apricot, peach, yellow, creamy white, and ranges of pink and red. Blooms comes in double, single and cactus-like forms. The more you cut them, the more side shoots will form and produce more flowers, so you’re not hurting anything by gathering flowers for bouquets every few days. Cutting off any spent blooms will also trigger more blooms, and the seed pods can be saved for planting next year. You can also collect the blooms, dry them in silica gel crystals for about a week, and use them in dry arrangements.