They look wonderful! So bright and cheery. Congrats.

Tracy

They are very healthy looking. From the leaf residue on the soil they are close to a Eucalyptus tree which has no apparent effect. Al

Be aware that the pink profusion will fade quite dramatically towards the end of the growing season. It is like the colors simply fade in the hot sun like a piece of dyed cloth. It is so prevalent that the seed companies are warning about this, in many instances.

They turn a flat tan, or bleached peach color.

brenton -- just beautiful -- an inspiration for us New Englanders in the midst of cold and snow! You look like you don't have any problems with powdery mildew. Is this true? BTW I visited your lovely country in October 2001 for 3 weeks and we had a fabulous time.

drhuey - beautiful photo - I just got some profusion zinnias from a friend and can't wait to see how mine do - you did a great job.

sedum - what can I say? I love your name "sedum" - I love sedums!

Carrie

I am always trying new Zinnias, I had Profusion last year and had no problems. The colors does fade, but the flowers last quite a while. My new varieties I am trying this year our Uproar Rose and Zowie.

Profusions are much more resistant to mildew than most zinnias.

Brenton, I'm glad to see that you didn't crowd your Profusions. They look great.

MM

Myself, I love the way the cherry profusion changes color as the flower ages. I like having all the different shades on one plant. In one of my gardens I have a border of the white and cherry profusions. They bloom until hard frost and have loads of flowers the whole summer. Mine do get a little mildew underneath, but it doesn't show.
Beautiful pic Brenton. Glad they turned out so well for you!

Kat

I grew every single one of the Profusion zinnias and I must say, the Apricot color was outstanding for me!! I had perfect carpet coverage, "shrublike" zinnias that did not get mildew until early October. The rest of my zinnias got the mildew in mid September. I dont care, I still get 4 months of amazing blooms!

I did not even have to deadhead my Profusions until 16 weeks after they were planted out, and that was only the blooms that were deep inside the plants. However, my cherry ones got deadheaded more often because the display had gotten flattened by some critter in the middle of the night, and I had a huge hole in the middle of the bed. I was constantly pruning and deadheading, trying to make the display look better. And I had bright pink blooms all season long. I think the fading is an issue if you dont remove the older blooms at all all season, which doesnt allow new blooms to form as much.

I dont know anyone who has ever grown Profusions and didnt fall in love with them!! My favorite is the Apricot, then Fire, then orange, then white, then Cherry..........I was dissapointed that there was not a new color for this year!

If you want to try a really fun Zinnia that is constantly changing all season, try the Swizzles (Scarlet & Yellow and Cherry & Pink). These are amazing everchanging blooms. The Magellans are even better plants, loaded with blooms that last forever.

Cant wait!!!

Ok Ellen, I tried doing a search for magellans, but couldn't find anything to do with flowers. Is this a type of zinna? How tall and wide do they get? What colors? I'd loved to see a pic if anyone has one.

Kat

Kat, check out your Park Seed catalogs (or website) or Stokes, I know for sure they have them, and there are other companies as well. I have a photo posted on Crazy Gardeners post "New for 2006" of the Coral Magellan Zinnias. They get about 14 inches high and should be spaced about 12 inches apart. I will spread mine out more like 16 inches apart this year, as mine last year were seriously overlapping each other. They looked amazing all season, but I did get mildew in September that destroyed them compeletely by October. I was fine with that, it happened just as we expected our first frost. However those last couple weeks they looked a bit rough. It isnt a very good cutting zinnia, but I never wanted to cut them at all, they make such a perfect "shrub"! The blooms are the size of your hand, they retain their color for about three months before beginning to fade. I never had to deadhead until about 16 weeks after planted out.

I would recommend one thing though, and that is that you pinch the plants when you plant them out to get them nice and bushy. A friend had planted some of these and did not pinch and her plants kept trying to grow upwards with smaller, less number of blooms, and looked pitiful. None of my zinnias "split" from being too heavy, and I credit that to having been pinched when young.

Okay, this post is about Profusions and here I am talking about Magellans! I dont know which one I liked more last year!

I took a look at your pic Ellen and they looked really good. Thing is, I do like the looks of the profusion flowers better. The profusion have more of a 'daisy' look which I just love. There's another zinnia called 'Crystal' that is supposed to be good. It's a single daisy-like flower. Comes in white and yellow. Has anyone tried that one?

Kat

Kat, yes I have grown the Crystals (orange, white and yellow) for the past two years and I love them as well. They are more like a ground cover zinnia and are constantly loaded with blooms. Yes, I love the daisy like Profusions but I also LOVE the shrublike enormous flowers of the Magellans and swizzles as well. There will always be room for all of them in my gardens!! Plus, this year I am growing more tall zinnias, including Whirligig, Burpeanna, and all of the Parks Picks colors. Last year, I had like a wall of stunning multicolors that were magnificent in cut flower bouquets (which I just started doing last year).

I collected seeds from the Profusions this year, but I havent experimented with them to see if they come true or not. I know others who have collected white ones and they did come true, but I purchased new seed this year. The seed is quite expensive IMO but I would pay any price for them!

Kat, (or anyone else) if you would like some of my collected seed, email me, because I have, literally, jillions of them still upstairs in their drying pans. Just let me know!

Ellen

Well I came in here at a good time! I wanted a recommendation on some different zinnias and here they are. I raised a freaky 6' zinnia plant once but it did not have 6' offspring - darn.

We have been growing them for several years and every year, no matter the weather conditions, they are just spectacular. Landscapers love them because they are so dependable. Keep growing them! MVG1

Thanks for the offer Ellen, but I only start vegetables from seed. And those are outside when it warms up. I just don't have the time or room to start seedlings inside.
I just might try those 'crystals' this year. I wouldn't mind have a ground cover with those.

Kat

Your Profusion zinnias are "Absolutly Fab!"

I had quite a time with black spot on my Magellan zinnias last year. They were so gorgeous, though, and different from the Profusion, that I am going to try them again this year with corn meal and other remedies.

I didnt have any black spot at all, but once the powdery mildew set in, there was no going back. It only took about wo weeks to destroy them. It was very late in the season, in September sometime, and wasnt worth my time to try to save them, as the frost date was approaching. However, had I known that our frost was going to be a month later than normal, I would have tried. It was my first year with mildew, so I have yet to research it throughly for what/what not to do. I have 4 streight months of perfect, nonstop blooming Magellans, so I was very satisfied!

It was my first try with these this year, and I started with Profusion Dark Apricot. I was delighted with the very thing that some complain about: the color change. To me it was perfectly wonderful to have the flowers go from vibrant orange to pale apricot. The monarch butterflies loved these flowers too. Non-stop all summer so far.