The photo above is one of the reasons I grow zinnias with with summer vegetables. Bumble bees are especially important in pollination of tomato flowers.

And here’s another reason. Then there are the smaller beneficial insects that evade a photo capture.

I grew my zinnias from seed this year. I aspire to most years but then don’t get around to planting the seeds at the right time. That’s when I pick up ‘State Fair’ from our local nursery. In the above photo you can see how I’ve cut back the eight inch zinnias by about three inches for better low branching.

Here are eight of my zinnias planted in the garden. They’ll be easy to cut and can grow tall without shading other plants. The others I planted in the front yard garden.

Zinnias

Zinnias, stout and stiff,
Stand no nonsense: their colors
Stare, their leaves
Grow straight out, their petals
Jut like clipped cardboard,
Round, in neat flat rings.

Even cut and bunched
Arranged to please us
In the house, in the water, they
Will hardly wilt–I know
Someone like zinnias: I wish
I were like zinnias.
—Valerie Worth

Grow Great Zinnias

By reading this floret blog post.