The Farm Store

Z.Peruviana - Bonita Red

Mini Zinnias: Z.Peruviana - Bonita Red - plants growing 24-30" tall, with button-like flowers, terra cotta to soft brick red blooms.  Sturdy cut flowers for bouquets.  100 seeds per pack; $2.50 each.  Old-fashioned zinnia, known as "youth and old age" as the blooms fade to a softer color the older they get. 

Z.Peruviana was one of Thomas Jefferson's favorite flowers!  I now know why! It's their resilience, longevity, ability to stand up to colder weather, and seed yield per plant!  We took our usual Sunday morning garden walk to survey the damage done by the first killing frost of the season.  To my great surprise, and delight!, THE ZINNIAS with the most frost resistance this season are the Bonitas (both colors) and the Big Reds!!!!!   ALL other plants exhibited the blackened leaves and ice-damaged petals and immediate color fade EXCEPT these!  The leaves were still intact and nearly perfect and green, not even drooping!  Planted late, the Bonita Yellows even had seed to offer me -- it cheered me knowing I'd have a bountiful crop next season, too, despite the loss of nearly all our stock to the Frost this autumn. 

It's the lesson of Clarissa Pincola Estes' "life-death-life cycle," illustrating "...that which can never die."   I will miss my zinnias until next year.  I will think of them every day and go to the web in coldest winter, to see their memories in pictures, until we can plant again.  We're tired from the Harvest and not nearly done, but still the spark of life and promise in each seed will push us and the seed to make flowers again next year, "God be willing and the creeks don't rise," as they say where we come from!  And finally, I wonder as I gather the crop in, whether the seed calls to us or if we call to the seed season after season?  And why do some people hear the call while others do not?  It's the Mystery!  

Bonita Reds & Yellows make a good filler flower in arrangements - colors are subtler - blooms bigger than a quarter

Photos shows the bushiness of this plant - very thick zinnia - some of the birds like to roost there overnight

Don't miss our Gift Wrap a Garden page!  Here we have combined our products into color themes (i.e., Blue Garden, Pastel Garden), garden themes, and 3-D Garden Design to those inclined to just let us do the work and the planning.  Order a garden, a $25, $35, $50, or $75 value, and Van Dyke Zinnias will gift wrap and send it to you or directly to the recipient! We will select a garden for your gift recipient based on their climate/zone, or you may choose to do this from our catalog of offers. For $4.95 more, let us Design the Garden to add to your gift. 

Gift Wrap A Garden and Gift Certificate combinations are available from the Quick Order Form. 

ORDER ZINNIAS NOW! 

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From time to time, we will offer web-only specials and publish short stories about the Farm Dogs or the grandkids, and inspirations from life on the Farm in mid-Michigan, the American heartland.  Seasonally, we will write to help Gardeners grow beautiful Zinnias, learn how to make a stunning bouquet, or how to collect precious seed when harvest is here.  Let us know if you would like to receive them.  We have moved our web to a new server and resized all photos for faster load times.  As we approach another winter, I hope you visit us often to see our pretty pictures and read about the simple things we love most here.  Thanks for being a customer!  -Sharon Baller, President

"To see life's passages through the eyes of your heart is to know that all is happening exactly as it was meant to."  -- Flavia Weedn