Growing zinnias in your summer garden will bring beautiful pops of color, pollinators, and copious amounts of joy. Zinnias are one of those plant-them-and-smile flowers—easy, cheerful, and generous. Here are some tried-and-true tips and tricks for growing zinnias beautifully in the garden.

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Looking for a beautiful, hardy flower that’s easy to grow and budget-friendly to plant? Zinnias will fit the bill for all of those.

Zinnias come in a large variety of colors and sizes. They are a hardy flower that is easy to grow in all kinds of growing conditions. The best part is that they won’t cost very much for a packet of seeds that will spread a lot of joy in your garden.

I started growing zinnias for my cut flower garden and realized hot much I love these easy to grow flowers that thrive on relatively little care.

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Many Colors and Sizes to Choose From

colors

Zinnias come in every color of the rainbow. Some seed packets will be a mix of colors and others you can get a single color. I like to grow big bold colors to use in my cut flower bouquets I use for the CSA and flower stand. The Benary Giant series of colors is great for this. I also love the Queen series for their stunning vintage colors.

Sizes

Zinnias can be a bold statement in the garden because they can grow very tall. If you choose the varieties that are good for cutting, they will grow up to 4 feet tall. If you would rather have a short variety to fill out a part of a flower border, there are many types for that too.

Along with height, the size of the actual flower will vary with variety. The Oklahoma series is a smaller flower, but it still grows nice and tall for a cut flower garden. The Binary Giant is a nice large bloom that will take up much more space in a bouquet. I like to grow a variety of types to use in bouquets.

Planting Tips

While zinnias are quite easy to grow, I want to give you some tips to make sure you have the most success as possible with them.

When to Plant

Wait for warm soil. Zinnias hate cold feet. Definitely make sure to plant after all frost danger has passed and the soil and air temps are warm. There is no rush to get them in early. They won’t like it.

Direct sow when possible. They don’t love transplanting and grow fast from seed. If you are just wanting a pop of color added to your garden and not starting a flower farm, direct sowing is the way to go.

I usually start a small amount of zinnias inside and plant the starts out after the last frost. At the same time I will direct sow seeds into the garden. They usually start blooming at a similar time, with the plant starts just a bit ahead.

Full sun is key. You will want to plant your zinnias in a spot that has a lot of sun. They need to have 6–8+ hours of sunlight. That placement in the garden gives you strong plants and nonstop blooms.

How to Plant

Spacing

• If you sow your seeds indoors and then plant out the starts, you should plant your plants about 6 inches apart with rows about 10-12 inches apart.
• If you direct sow your seeds outdoors, you should use the same spacing.
• Some people like to prepare the soil and then scatter the seeds over the soil without worrying about spacing. This works, but you might need to thin them when they come up. I don’t tend to do this.
• The reason you don’t want to crowd you zinnias too close is they are more susceptible to powdery mildew, which happens when more moisture and plants that do not get enough airflow.

Watering & Care

• It is ideal to water at the base, not overhead, to prevent disease. In our climate, it rains a lot in the summer and I usually do not water the zinnias at all unless it is dry while they are getting established. So all our zinnias get overhead watering with rain.
• Zinnias prefer deep, infrequent watering rather than daily sprinkles. Drip lines or watering by hand with a hose at the soil level are best when water is needed.
• Zinnias thrive in average soil—no need to over-fertilize. I make sure to amend my soil with compost each year, but do not fertilize my soil where I plant my zinnias.

Taking Care of Your Zinnias

Now that your zinnias are established, there are a few things you should know for their care. With the right management, they will bloom from the summer all the way to the first frost.

Pruning & Picking

• Pinch young plants when they’re 8–12 inches tall to encourage branching. This isn’t something that you have to do, but if you pinch out the main stem, the plant will send up two in its place. The result is fuller plants and more blooms throughout the summer.
• The more you cut, the more they bloom. Regular harvesting keeps flowers coming. I love to use zinnias in my cut flower gardens and make bouquets with them so I am constantly cutting them. If you love to keep the color in the garden, make sure you are deadheading (taking off the spent blooms) as they die so that the plant gets the signal to continue sending out flowers. This is a true cut-and-come-again flower.
• Knowing how to Harvest your zinnia is important. You should perform the “wiggle test” on your zinnias before cutting them. This is important to ensure then flowers stay up straight on their stems and last in a vase. To do this, you will lightly grab the stem and wiggle it back and forth. If it is very wiggly, give it a few more days even if the flower looks ready to cut. If the stem is stiff and does not wiggle, it is good to cut.
• Strip off the leaves. After I cut each the zinnia, I strip off all but the top leaves. This helps the water stay clean and the flowers last longer when I put them in a vase.

Another Reason to Love Zinnias

Zinnias are pollinator magnets, bringing bees and butterflies into the garden. Especially in my main kitchen garden, I always see bees and butterflies on my zinnias.

Bringing in all the pollinators is another reason that I love to plant some zinnias in the vegetable garden. I want those flowers to draw in the bees and butterflies to do the pollinating work of the nearby veggies.

Simple, sunny, and endlessly rewarding—zinnias prove that the easiest flowers often bring the most joy.