Zinnia marylandica Double Zahara Strawberry Seeds

Zinnia marylandica Double Zahara Strawberry offers an exceptionally long flowering period and is one of the best double, dwarf varieties. Its pompom-like blooms come in a very vivid, strawberry shade and are produced in abundance on compact, disease-resistant plants. Its flowers exude a peculiar scent which recalls that of polish, and are very beautiful in fresh or dry bouquets. Perfectly heat and drought-tolerant, this annual needs little maintenance, but requires sun and well-drained soil for best results. 

Zinnia marylandica is a sterile hybrid belonging to the family Asteraceae, obtained by artificially crossbreeding Z. angustifolia var. angustifolia and Z. violacea. Both are native to northern and western Mexico. The cultivar 'Double Zahara Strawberry' is an annual plant that forms a rather slow-growing, compact, branched clump measuring 45 cm in height and in width, that requires no staking. The sturdy stems are covered with rough, downy, lanceolate to elliptical, medium green leaves. They flower from June-July to September-October and the blooms are nectar-rich and melliferous. The flower is a large, fully double, hemispherical capitulum composed of numerous ligulate flowers of a very bright pink, almost red hue, and recall the blooms of certain dahlias.

Seeing zinnias grow is always a lovely surprise. Not only are they able to sprout up from the ground in the most unlikely places, including those disdained by many plants, they are capable of blooming even in gravelly soils and in scorching sunlight. Their vivid, almost aggressive colours blend so well with the light of the relentless summer sun and pale gravel beaches, that they should be grown right into the cracks of the terrace or the paths. Even if they live only one year, you might as well take advantage of their never-ending blooming as much as you can. They assert themselves in cottage-style flowerbeds, where their fieriness is tempered by milder blooms of plants such as white or blue love-in-a-mist, cosmos, white gauras, or by placing them between airy grasses such as Stipa tenuifolia or Eragrostis trichoides. They can also be sown in pots to decorate the terrace in summer.