Any zinnia growers here? I have an on-again, off-again relationship with zinnias.
This year I had a good crop, but I had to leave for a good part of the summer. I loved the first batch of flowers. The later flowers look pretty pitiful - the petals are shrunken and the center emerges as a cone so it looks like a very sad echinacia. Is this progression fixed n stone, or would my later blooms look better if Iwas more aggressive about cutting the earlier blooms?
= new reply since forum marked as read
The tall ones were almost 5 ft. high! I had them along an open fence in about 50% sunshine. They did get a powdery mildew on the leaves toward the end of summer though and the little ones became rabbit snacks. 
I can't wait to add more next year.
Zinnias were the flower of my childhood in South Texas. I helped plant them every year in my grandmothers garden. We seed saved them in a chest and then planted them again the next year. There was a mimosa tree volunteer that sprouted up in that garden as well and they both remind me of my grandparents.
Zinnias main gift is they were so simple to grow in that climate. They grew perfectly year after year with no effort, no muss, no fuss. I think it was just a sublime combination of variety, time and place. Have never had any other zinnias from packages do quite as well in Central Texas. 
May try some again this year now that you reminded me!
