Marigolds and Zinnias

Every year I wander through the aisles of my local nursery and ponder the possibilities with the variety of flowers they offer. There are always so many to choose from, the blooms and the colors are so pretty.  I wander and look, thinking I’ll try something new.  But it never fails, I end up going back to my old faithfuls- marigolds and zinnias. Both of these get repeat performances on our farm for several reasons.

I have been planting both of these for many, many years.  As a matter of fact, I have been harvesting my Zinnia seeds every year since 2004, and still grow beautiful, brightly colored Zinnias each year, from those same seeds.  Talk about frugal!  I only bought the seeds one time!  I’m sure the seed manufacturers wouldn’t want to hear that, but I think it’s great!  This year my zinnias are about 4 feet tall and the colors are more varied than ever! 

I have also been harvesting marigold seeds for many years. Not as long as I have saved zinnia seeds, but still for a long time!  

Some of the reasons for my love of marigolds and zinnias are….

First, they can tolerate heat and full sun. And boy do we have a lot of both.  This year I still have both in full bloom at the end of September!  This year as I pulled up veggies that were done producing, I replaced them with zinnia seeds-  and wow! That has been a great idea.  My garden is now full of butterfly loving zinnias.  The colors are amazing and absolutely beautiful!

Second, they don’t seem to mind our sandy soil.  Our area, especially closer to the house, has sandy soil.  This doesn’t work well for everything we plant, but we have really learned to work with it over the years.  Both marigolds and zinnias seem to do just fine with this type of soil.  I always add some manure (we have lots of that here on the homestead!) to help out, and the flowers do very well.

And finally, I can harvest their seeds to have for next year.  Just like I mentioned before, this is so frugal!  Every year, once the flowers have completed dried on the stem, I pop off the dried blooms and put the seeds that are inside into plain envelopes, or brown lunch sacks, and store them in the freezer until next spring.  It’s always so fun to just go pull those out, scatter all the seeds over the ground, and start growing the gorgeous flowers again!  

All of these are great reasons for growing marigolds and zinnias, but the best of all is that they are bright, colorful, a little old fashioned, and just plain pretty!

See if you can find a spot for some marigolds and zinnias and enjoy!

Want to read more about growing Zinnias, Marigolds, or just flowers in general?  Click HERE for more resources. 

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