Enjoy Zinnia Flowers During the Fall Season

  

Just because the summer season is coming to an end it does not mean that you cannot enjoy beautiful flowers during the fall season.  There are many flowers that you can plant in September that will add color and interest to your fall containers or feature gardens.

I love Zinnias, do you?.

 Zinnia flowers will add interest to your feature gardens and some zinnias can be grown in containers.  Dwarf zinnias are best for container gardens. 

Here are photographs of zinnia flowers 

The dwarf zinnias come in a variety of colors and will bloom continuously during the fall season and until there is a hard frost.  You would just need to provide your zinnias with at least 8 hours of sun daily and water when the soil is dry to the touch. Plus deadhead all spent flowers and your zinnia plant will give you repetitive blooms. 

This year I sowed zinnia seeds in the spring and then again in mid-August. The flower germinated quickly in the warm soil.   I have been deadheading the spent blooms to encourage new growth and more flowers.  All of the zinnias are still blooming in my end-summer garden.

 Even in cooler weather, the zinnia does not bolt.  Our weather is warm mid 70’s during the day and cool low 50’s at night.  As long as my zinnia gets sun throughout the day they will continue to bloom until a hard frost.

After a hard frost, I will cut back the zinnia plants and deadhead any remaining flowerheads as this is a way to collect seeds for the next spring season planting. Or you can buy seeds online or at your local garden center.

Swizzle Scarlet and Yellow Zinnia Flower

 Zinnia flowers are grown in my garden annually and I always grow them from seed.  The only exception was this year when I bought the Swizzle Scarlet and Yellow Zinnia flowers.

I was drawn to the brilliant large bi-color flower and bought six of the dwarf-size zinnia plants at Lowe’s garden center.   The flower is striking and would add good contrast to my full sunflower garden. I also thought the dwarf size would be good for containers or grown along the border of a garden path.

Plant in a location where the zinnias will get six hours of full sun. The soil should be well-drained as the roots will rot if they are wet. This pant will bloom continuously from spring to fall and is hardy to 40 F.

Water daily for the first 30 days or until the plant is mature (10 to 12 inches in height and the same for width) then water as needed.

My summers are extremely hot so I did apply mulch to help retain moisture and to prevent weed growth in the garden. 

Here are some photographs of the Swizzle Scarlet and Yellow Zinnia Flower.

Gardening in the Heat of the Summer

Now that the peak heat of the summer is here I make a point to get up at dawn so that I can get whatever yard or garden work completed.  During this time I can weed the gardens, deadhead the flowers, and water the plants.  However, I need to wait a few hours to use any of my electric or gas-operated garden tools. 

Watering lilac shrubs in summer

I was going to use the electric grass trimmer to manicure around the flower gardens but decided to hold off on this project until next week when the weather will be 20 degrees cooler. At 9:00 this morning, the temperature was 89 degrees and I thought it was too hot.

Other than that maintaining the garden, I find it is a full-time job to keep the container and specialty gardens hydrated. The plants get a good watering in the am with a soaker hose but come noon the topsoil in containers and garden beds looks like dust.  So I am outdoors again in the late afternoon to water the hosta, coleus, and fern plants because the heat of the summer is causing them to feel stress.

Cosmo flower-like hot weather

Zinnia flowers grow best in the hot sun

The only plants in my garden that are flourishing are the zinnias, cosmos, and four o'clock flowers. These heat-seeking plants are producing multiple flowers and the plants do not bolt when the summer weather gets hot.