Zinnia elegans ‘Peppermint stick’ seeds

Description

Picture thanks to www.wildgardenseed.com

This Zinnia has flowers in lovely soft shades  which can range through cream, pale pink, gold  and white and each flower is striped and flecked with red ,as if flicked from a painters brush. It is a fun zinnia and no two flowers are completely alike , though they make good subjects for a bouquet as they seem to blend in with most colour schemes.

These plants reach 60-70 cm tall and 30 cms wide, and begin flowering as soon as the summer weather arrives. They thrive in the blazing heat, asking only well-drained soil and adequate water to keep them dazzling for months.

Sowing advice
For best results sow zinnia where they are to flower (they like a sunny, sheltered position and don’t like to be moved) from the end of October to the end of November when the soil is warming up. Sow 3mm deep in drills 30cm apart into well prepared soil that has been raked to a fine tilth. Water regularly. Germination takes 7-14 days. When large enough to handle thin to 25cm spacing.
They can also be sown indoors Sep-Oct into seed compost at temp. 15-25°C. Do not exclude light. If you use cell pots this will allow them to be transplanted with less root disturbance. When large enough to handle transplant and grow on in cooler conditions. Acclimatise 10-15 days and plant out after danger of frost has passed.