Why I Oughta...

The flats of Zinnias that I planted from seed have been hanging around on our patio for weeks.  Ready to pot-up into their final destination.   I grew three varieties this year - Envy, State Fair and Cut-and-Come-Again in eight-cell recycled containers that I scavenged from some annuals.  I was waiting for the Zinnias to put on multiple sets of 'real leaves' before transplanting them, but then I got busy and probably waited to long.  Here are some photos of the process - from cells to Greenstalk vertical garden.  This is a tiny example of "Flower Farming" in a small space with vertical gardening beds. Last year, I grew a number of Zinnias in this Greenstalk successfully .  This year, I'm leaning into it way more.  They started to bloom in late August last year - after being direct sown.   This post is going up in July, but this process happened at the end of June.  This is about two weeks ago.    I added in some new potti...

Last year, I direct-sowed zinnia seeds into the cut flower bed in our sideyard and into the vertical tower on our patio.  And...it...well...worked.  We grew Zinnias.  But, this year I wanted to get them started a little bit earlier (not as early as I should have, though...) and decided to start some seeds indoors.   I showed the three varieties of seeds we bought this year - earlier this winter/spring;  Envy , State Fair and Cut and Come Again.    I had some eight-cell packs on-hand from annuals that I put out front, so I filled those with a potting mix and tucked seeds into each cell.   Pretty quickly, most of them germinated.   I kept the seedlings in the screened porch and they started to grow up and get taller.   In an attempt to keep them from getting too-leggy, I moved them outdoors as often as I could - weather-permitting.  Below is a photo showing the two trays out on the patio - where they live all day...

Zinnia seeds are the theme this week - with another set introduced here on the blog.  Yesterday, I showed a couple photos of a larger-format-bloom Zinnia:  The State Fair Zinnia .  Today, is another new (to me) cut flower.  When you look at the rack of seed packets, you see a lot of the same/similar colors:  pinks, yellows, reds, oranges, peaches.  But, then there's a Zinnia seed packet that stood out.  It is this one below, named Envy.  Seed packet front/back of Envy Zinnia Seeds that we picked up: These are GREEN flowers. Borderline Chartreuse.  That's certainly unique.  Especially for Zinnias (at least for me).   From the Burpee site : Green Zinnias in your garden make a dramatic display that words can only partially describe. The 3" double and semi-double blooms look as sensational in the garden as they do in the vase. Try them in fresh arrangements with white, deep blue or pink flowers. Can be sown directly in the garden...