Zinnias With Foliage In A Blue Ball Jar - Countertop Flowers - August 2025

The bulk of my flower arrangements have been focused on the flowers + some additional foliage plants.  Zinnias + ferns + artemeisa.  Dahlias + artemesia + polka dot plants.  For the most part, I was dealing with shorter-length stems on the 'stars' (Zinnias and Dahlias) and that meant that I was stripping just a few leaves from the stems and filling out the arrangement with those other foliage elements.

But, thanks to my FYP, I've been getting served "here's how to get longer stem" videos and the secret isn't...well...it isn't a secret.  It is just doing something that is hard:  Cutting deep.  

Why is cutting deep hard?  Because you're sacrificing some flower blooms.  To get the longer stems, you often take out up-to-three flowers.  Typically that means one full-formed and open that has shot up through the middle of the stem.  Then, two smaller, further-behind ones on either side.  

I've always hesitated to sacrifice those other two blooms, but that usually means short stems.  The plants react to cuts and (from what I've read/watched), when you cut short stems...the plant produces the same thing:  short stems.

So, with September almost here and Summer turning into Fall, I went at it with some of our Zinnias.  I cut them deep and took long stems.  I removed *some* of the foliage - near the bottom.  And left the rest on closer towards the middle/top of the stem.  

I stuck them in a blue Ball canning jar.  And, I really like it.   Lesson learned for this flower grower.  Cut your stems long, leave on some foliage.  And you don't need to put anything else in the vase/jar/container.  

Compare the photo above of longer-stem Zinnias with their foliage left on to the Zinnias in this post from just a few days ago.  Night and Day, right?  There's probably the same amount of flowers in each container.  But, the one with longer stems and foliage looks much better, doesn't it?  See below for comparison: