From “Zinnia elegans” in Restoring American Gardens: An Encyclopedia of Heirloom Ornamental Plants, 1640-1940 by Denise Adams:
“Fifteen zinnia flower colors were noted in old catalogs and references, including white, sulfur yellow, golden yellow, orange, scarlet-orange, scarlet, light tan, lilac, rose, magenta, crimson, violet, purple, and dark purple. There were also variegated forms, but the solid double flowers were the most popular. This hardy annual ranged in size from the dwarfs at 3-12 inches to the tall zinnias that were 20-30 inches….
“Zinnias did not appear to their best advantage in masses — but looked well in mixed borders. They were also effectively grown as single plants in the lawn.”
From “Hours in the Garden” in Hours in the Garden and Other Poems by Herman Hesse:
…Over there, where at times the path approaches the beds,
Each year we let a few flowers grow, because we take that
Steep path quite often, in fact every day, and when the beans
And the peas and the cabbage are already brown and scorched,
At the edge of the path a few flowers still get their water:
Red-violet zinnias, or snapdragons and nasturtiums.
Past them, whose freshness brightens the languishing slope,
I walk….
Hello!
This is the first of three posts with photographs of Zinnias from Oakland Cemetery. I always like to mark their return with new photos because they make their presence known right at the boundaries between summer and fall; and, once upon a time in the olden days of five years ago, I didn’t know what they were so I just called them “wildflowers” (see Ten Wildflowers and Three Butterflies from 2021). We have learned many, many things since then!
I took photos for this first post on a very sunny day in late August, and the photos for the next two posts on a very cloudy day in the middle of October. The Zinnias weren’t done blooming on the later date, so that gives you some idea about how long their overall blooming season can last. The excerpt I included at the top of this post describes the large number of colors Zinnias can produce, and you’ll find most of those colors among the photos.
There are several patches of Zinnias at Oakland in different locations, all of which demonstrate a Zinnia plant’s ability to manage growing conditions other plants would find intimidating. They grow well on steep hills, in sandy soil, and with stems that protrude from and rise high above rocks or gravel. Those tendencies probably explain why I originally thought they were wildflowers: they struck me as exhibiting behaviors similar to flowering plants one might find on the side of a road or around railroad tracks growing in gravel or sand.
Since we had a lot of fun with maps in my last post about the Eriocapitella genus, let’s take a look at three more!
Once again from Plants of the World Online, here are distribution maps for the Zinnia genus, followed by distribution maps for two of its most common species: Zinnia peruviana and Zinnia elegans (the original maps are (here, here, and here). Green on these maps defines the genus or species’ native regions; and purple defines where a plant has been introduced and has sufficient presence to be considered naturalized. (See What “Native” or “Introduced” Mean: Myths and Misconceptions for more on these terms.)
These maps tell a different story than the one I described for Eriocapitella — which was about migration from Europe and Asia to North and South America. The Zinnia genus travelled in the opposite direction: it was native to the Americas and migrated from there to Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa and Australia. The Zinnia peruviana species, as shown in the second map, made some similar journeys as the genus as a whole.
The story of Zinnia elegans (shown on the third map) is a bit more complicated: it, too, made journeys similar to those of Zinnia peruviana, but its native or wild version was widely modified (especially in Europe and Asia) to produce flowers with different forms and colors, perhaps most notably the double Zinnia as well as the exuberant layered-golf-ball design shown below:
The plant’s modifications meant its characteristics were different enough that its return to the Americas was considered an introduction, effectively replacing the plant’s prior designation as native. Their original form — if it can be called that still — is also represented throughout my galleries, where you will find similarly colored flowers with a single (though often overlapping) row of petals. To be fair, continued genetic modification means that the two flowers above could be variants of either Zinnia elegans or Zinnia peruviana — but that doesn’t alter the botanical history narrative too much. It simply reflects human influence on the species and the ongoing work of botanists and geneticists to produce new colors and forms. And their presence at Oakland Cemetery also tells another part of our Victorian garden story, where native plants like Zinnias are as likely to be found as those imported or “exotic” species native to other world regions.
Thanks for reading and taking a look!
