Zinnia haageana Jazzy Red - seeds

Zinnia haageana 'Jazzy Red' has small flowers, but with contrasting, eye-catching colours! They are semi-double or double, ruby red with cream tips. It blooms continuously from summer to autumn and after adorning flower beds and borders, it brightens up floral arrangements. This annual is easy to grow in the garden. It can be planted mixed with other equally undemanding flowering plants.

The approximately 20 species that make up the Zinnia genus are native to dry meadows in an area ranging from the southwest of North America to South America, but mainly Mexico. Zinnia haageana (Synonym Z. mexicana or Z. angustifolia) is an annual plant that thrives in heat and sunlight and belongs to the aster family, native to Mexico, it compensates for the small size of its flowers with their abundance.

The 'Jazzy Red' variety forms a small, well-branched clump, averaging 60 cm high and 40 cm wide. The hairy leaves are narrow and sheathing at the base. The slender stems are often tinged with red near the ground. Flowering occurs from July to mid-October. The nectar-rich flowers appear in the axils of the leaves, they are semi-double, 4 cm wide heads, composed of a double row of ligulate petals surrounding a centre of fertile florets that darken as they mature.

Zinnias are appreciated for their ease of cultivation, and rightly so. They also show great resilience in conditions where other plants struggle. Zinnias thrive in the sun and withstand high temperatures, as long as they are watered a little. They prefer neutral, rich, and well-drained soil, but can tolerate ordinary garden soil. Plant them in ornamental gardens, borders, and flower beds, and in the vegetable garden. Combine zinnias with informal, naturally charming plants such as sages, perennial geraniums, and coreopsis. Clumps of ornamental grasses with their spikes mingling with zinnia flowers create a beautiful display. They can also be sown in pots to decorate the terrace in summer. It is a nectar-rich plant that will delight bees and butterflies.