A Type of Zinnia

These are growing like gangbusters in my containers. I bought a 6-pack a few years ago from a local garden nursery for my containers and they did exceptionally well. The annual Zahara Zinnias loved their new home on the deck containers. Each flower starts out as intense reddish-orange, and then fades to a lighter pale orange in time, lasting about two weeks.

The following spring, I had some petunias sprouting in one of the containers as usual, and a group of other seedlings in one of the containers. It is not uncommon for weedy elm or mustard to germinate in these containers at the beginning of the year. I thought these were weeds, but they were not imediately recognizable. Smartweed maybe. I let them grow and thought to get to this particular container later, after I attended to the others.

After a short time, I noticed a bud forming on one of these weed seedlings. It was definitely not a common weed I was familiar with. After it bloomed as one of the Zahara Zinnias, I set about to protect the other seedlings, transplanting them and thinning them out.

This is now an annual occurance, and every year, my zinnias reseed and come back the following spring true to their original form and color. I make a point of deadheading and throwing the spent blossoms in the container for next year. They may take a while to bloom, but they are stars in the containers in summer.