I’ve really come around to zinnias. I used to think they were more trouble than their worth, a pretty-enough flower that try-as-you-might is inevitably covered in a shower of powdery mildew (a fungal disease that literally resembles a layer of white powder on your plants) by late summer. I accidentally grew a plant last summer, a cast-off from a TV appearance that I couldn’t trade off. It was a hot pink flower bloomed and bloomed all season long, becoming a much-appreciated punch of colour when the vegetable garden was in its infancy and a spark of hope when the drought was at its worse.
I have come to love Zinnias. Mostly for me, they are a weed-flower. You plant it, it grows. Purchasing seeds from a catalog, you get a huge selection to choose from. And, they are so very pretty–like you said, a beautiful splash of color when nothing else will grow.
I love zinnias — I know the get powdery mildew, but I get tons of flowers from hardly any work. Save the seeds of the best ones and have even more the next year.
They are great in the hottest part of the year!