You know how at the end of summer, plants look a little peaked and you are craving some color in your landscape but the weather is still too warm for cool weather annuals to really live comfortably? Enter the solution. Profusion zinnia is a great choice for transitional color that will lead you from late summer through fall and up until the first frost. The vibrant blooms will also offer a colorful nectar source for our fall migrating pollinators. How’s that for timing? Shall we count the ways we love Profusion Zinnia? Yes, we shall.
4 Reasons to Love Profusion Zinnia
- Profusion zinnia are great transitional annuals
- Profusion zinnia are a versatile annual
- Profusion zinnia are full of nectar for fall pollinators
- Profusion zinnia are very heat and drought tolerant
More About Profusion Zinnia
1.Great transition annual: As mentioned above, these little annuals make a great transition plant from summer into fall, before the colder weather makes us go crazy over snapdragons, stock, pansies and Johnny Jump Ups. The small mounding habit of Profusion zinnia allows you to plant a few in the garden and still leave room for the more cold tolerant annuals once it is time to plant them.
2. Versatile annual: The small stature of Profusion zinnia (1’-2’ tall x 1.5’ wide) allows them to easily find a spot in the front of your sunny annual beds, or interspersed between other plants in sunny perennial gardens. They can add a pop of color here and there, or be planted in mass for a striking display. You can easily liven up a front porch, patio or deck with containers full of these cheerful blooms. When planting them, make sure you can see them from the house, because once planted, the butterfly show will begin almost immediately.
3. Nectar source for fall pollinators: Full of nectar, Profusion zinnia are an easy way for you to feed the local pollinators. The flat surface of the blooms welcomes butterflies to land, rest, and linger while feeding. Bees are offered pollen without having to go in for a deep dive. Colors normally available are cherry, orange, yellow, red, apricot, white, and even some bicolor. These colors are magnets for pollinators. Flowers come in single petal or double petal blooms.
4. Heat and drought tolerant: The heat just doesn’t seem to bother these profuse bloomers. This is why we are able to still plant them during late summer. You will still need to water them regularly the first few weeks to get them established (just don’t overwater). Once they are established, as long as you have well-draining soil, Profusion zinnia can go for stretches without an overly watchful eye.
- An extra tip when watering any type of zinnia is to avoid overhead watering. While Profusion zinnia have a superior disease resistance than some other zinnia varieties, watering of the leaves and not the root is a way to push it to the limits if you know what I mean. Aim your water at the soil around the roots and leave the leaves alone. Enjoy the cheerful, vibrant, color of these flowers all the way up to the first frost.
I’ve been stocking up for the fall pollinator migration and you can bet that Profusion zinnia is a non-negotiable plant on my list of buys. Will it be on your list too?
~The Happy Gardener, Lisa Mulroy
