How to Plant Giant Zinnias from Seed

Giant Zinnias can create a burst of beautiful bright flower arrangements for your backyard garden that attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds to your space. In this post I share with you how to plant zinnias from seed with this easy to follow growing guide.

You’ll discover when to plant zinnia seeds and how easy is to plant them in pots, containers, and outdoors in the ground. I’ll show you how to care for your flowers to create a show stopping zinnia flower garden this summer you’ll be proud to show off.

Heck, you might even enter your flowers in the local state fair.

How to Plant Giant Zinnias from Seed, Wandering Hoof Ranch

In this post you’ll learn all about how to plant giant zinnias including, where and the, how to care for your zinnias and tips for more blooms.

Zinnia’s are a stunning annual flower. Annuals need to be planted annually, year after year. But not to worry, zinnias are super easy to plant in your flower garden or bordering your vegetable garden.

Zinnia seeds are also very inexpensive to buy and are often found at the dollar store.

I personally love and trust the seeds from Botanical Interests if you’re shopping online. I plant zinnias every year to my garden along with the rest of my favourite flowers like marigolds, and herbs as part of my own healing garden.

We grew up planting zinnia flowers with my mother. She’d give us a package of seeds to throw in our own garden in March.

When she was preparing her vegetable garden and in the summer we’d have a beautiful arrangement of Zinnia’s.

Zinnia’s are also known for being a great easy cut flower and showcase well in a vase or mason jar.

Zinnia’s are also great frugal flower to plant in your garden if you have an August wedding.

Planting Zinnia Seeds

Zinnias add a massive arrangement of bright colors that scream summer in colors such as pink, red, yellow, green, orange, and white.

You’ll see a variety of shapes, heights, and types of flowers within the Zinnia family.

To plant giant zinnias, like this Benery’s giant zinnia variety, plant seeds outdoors after the last frost date. Zinnias can be started indoors, but they establish quickly and easily from seed when sown outdoors that I honestly wouldn’t bother.

If it’s not quite after your last frost date yet, make seed bombs!

WHEN TO PLANT ZINNIA SEEDS

When choosing an area in which to plant your zinnias, here are some qualities to look for in the perfect zinnia growing area!

Zinnia’s thrive in a sunny location
Zinnia’s do best in dryer soil
If the soil is moist try adding some sand

Planting seeds isn’t hard and shouldn’t be difficult. Lucky for you planting zinnia seeds is super basic and great for beginner gardeners.

Planting zinnia seeds is easy because they are a larger seed pods to find. Therefore spacing the seeds in the soil should be a breeze since they are easy to spot and space.

Zinnia Seeds look like this:

When planting zinnia seeds consider the following tips

Don’t plant right after a heavy rainfall
Plant 1/4 inch deep, around a fingernail deep
Plant aprox. 4 inches apart

How to Plant Zinnias from seeds in a pot

Planting Zinnias in pots and containers is a great way to add a beautiful splash of colour and design around your backyard garden space.

Because Zinnias are deer resistant, theres no need to worry if they are in an enclosed fenced space or not.

Containers and pots is also a great option if you don’t want to bother weeding.

MORE: Planting in Containers

How to Plant Zinnias in the ground

This is how I plant my Zinnia seeds. My full vegetable garden and companion flowers and plants are all planted in ground amongst each other to create a biodynamic happy ecosystem for plants, bees and beneficial insects.

Simply gently till the top layer of soil with a rake and plant a row of seeds in either a straight or in groups of five.

MORE: Planting in Ground using the Back to Eden Method

HOW TO CARE FOR ZINNIAS

Once you’ve planted your zinnia seeds it’s time to start caring for them. Make sure to water the seeds daily until they are established.

Once plants are established, they only need to be watered 3x a week.

When Zinnia’s reach approx. three inches tall use garden shears to trim any leaves and thin the plants so they are about 6-18 inches apart.

Zinnia’s require minimal effort, and benefit from occasional watering and deadheading.

At the height of the season fertilize your Zinnias every other week using a water soluble fertilizer to keep them health and strong and blooming brightly.

To keep pests and diseases at bay, water your zinnias in the morning at the roots avoiding the foliage.

GROWING ZINNIAS

Zinnia’s are a beautiful giant flower option if you are looking for growing an easy to grow annual flower from seed.

At the low cost of a pack of seeds you can have a beautiful arrangement of giant Zinnia’s growing in your own garden.

Share the joy of these flowers as they are stunning as a cut flower in any arrangement.

If you are looking to make some extra money from your garden this summer, why not grow extra and sell arrangements at your local farmers market or provide for a summer wedding in your area.

These are just a few of my tips for growing zinnias. Start them from seed, attract bees, hummingbirds and butterflies to your garden and take good care of your annuals.

HOW BIG TO ZINNIAS GROW?

This is a good piece of information to have when planning your garden space. Because they will get tall, it’s important to consider if they will cast to much shade on surrounding plants.

This will depend on the variety of Zinnia that you plant, some flowers will grow 16 inches. Others will grow taller up and up to three feet tall.

ZINNIAS ARE PERFECT FOR CUT FLOWER ARRANGEMENTS

Zinnias are perfect for flower arrangements with sunflowers and fresh summer flowers. More on cut flower gardens in this post.

THESE ARE OUR FAVOURITE VARIETY OF ZINNIAS

SAVING ZINNIA SEEDS

Once the summer has ended and the fear of the first frost has arrived it’s time to clean out your garden and remove your annual flower plants.

Zinnias are one of the easiest annual flowers to grow as they grow quickly and have lots of blossoms.

Annual flowers grow for only one season and produce seeds. Once planted, seeds need to be saved as they will not come back the following year.

Nature works at it’s finest by reseeding zinnias from heirloom varieties but this can easily be mimicked by saving the seeds.

Save seeds from strong Zinnias plants at the end of the summer season. At this point stop deadheading the zinnias and allow the flowers to develop seeds.

On a dry fall day with little wind, hold a paper bag under each seed head and snip off the seed heads with pruners letting them fall into the bag.

Spread the seed heads and seeds in a single layer in shallow paper box or tray on a table indoors.

Allow them to sit for 1-4 weeks to air dry to the point where the plant material is completely dry.

Remove the dried seeds by rolling or gently brushing them with your fingers. Place the seeds paper envelopes labeled with the plant information and date.

I USE THIS FREE PRINTABLE SEED PACKAGE