State Fair Zinnia | Zinnia elegans
A mix of red, pink, purple, yellow and orange.
This antique flower harkens back to the days when the state fair was the place to be. Farmers and gardeners would bring their best harvests to try and win first prize. Tastiest tomato, heaviest pumpkin, sweetest corn, or best flower arrangement there were, and are, many categories to enter your homegrown goods. Vegetable and flower awards are making a comeback at state fairs, farmers markets, and granges all over the country. Enter State Fair at your state fair and see how you fare!
The 36-48" plants produce 4-6" blooms that are terrific as cut flowers.
Direct sow after frost, or sow indoors 4 weeks earlier. Zinnias like heat and well-drained soil. Encourage continued production by removing dead and dying flower heads. Cut flowers do best with long stems and green leaves removed. To save seeds, simply allow flower heads to ripen and dry fully on the plant, then pluck and squeeze in your palm.
Days to Germination 7-10 days
Days to Maturity 65 days
Planting Depth ½"
Spacing in Row 12-18"
Spacing Between Rows 18-24"
Height at Maturity 36-48"
Width at Maturity 12-16"
Sun Preference Full to Partial Sun
Artwork by Sarah Snow. To match the vintage colour palette of this mix, Sarah (also the designer of the shape of our seed packs!) used antique papers to create a true state fair spectacle: flowers that tower over the fairgrounds.
About Hudson Valley Seed Company
They are a values-driven seed company that practices and celebrates responsible seed production and stewardship. Hudson Valley are best known for their beautiful artist-design seed packs (Art Packs) that appeal to gardeners, gift buyers, and lovers of art and nature.
These Art Packs, most fundamentally, tell stories. Hudson Valley challenges artists to convey in a manner that is fully their own, the history and meaning of the seed variety contained in each pack. These stories were once integral to traditional societies-stories of seeds were often origin stories for entire communities and peoples, and the lore and beliefs that accumulated around seed varieties reflected the nearly familial way in which gardeners and farmers regarded their crops. Our society is, by and large, no longer connected to plants this way. But we like to think these Art Packs help to stitch our fragmented world back together: useful seeds, evocative art, both equally valuable to our experience of being human.