South American Plants – Zinnia

Name – named the flowers after Johann Gottfried Zinn, a professor of medicine in Goettingen, Germany, in the mid-eighteenth century. The flower is part of the Asteraceae family and is native to the Americas – it’s common names include youth and old age, presumably in reference to the flower's multiple layers and in it’s native Mexico the Spaniards called it mal de ojos, because the flowers were small and considered ugly to the eye!

Description – The zinnia has highly showy, dahlia-shaped double heads in almost every colour except blue, which are supported on stiff, coarse-textured hollow peduncles, or stalks, bearing rough oval or heart-shaped leaves.

Origin – This plant’s native regions include Mexico, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Arizona and Texas, for this reason they need full sun and Zinnias are often best when grown from seed in fertile, humus-rich, and well-drained soil where they may reseed themselves each year if your garden is not too cold. You should remove dead flower blooms to encourage new growth and new blooms and you can improve the appearance of Giant Zinnias by trimming back stems that have grown overly long. Zinnias are annuals and are susceptible to frost. They may survive the first light frost with only a little damage but will always succumb to a heavy frost.

For Decoration – Zinnias make colourful additions to mixed bouquets, but you need to be aware of their special requirements. The stem of a zinnia is hollow just under the bloom and florists trim a short piece of wire and push it through the centre of the flower and into the stem for support.

South American Zinnia photograph by ktylerconk, used under a creative commons attribution licence

 

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