I vote for planting in sweeps of color, no fewer than 5 to 9 plants of one color to a group. Try to make sure that each sweep meets up with a complementary color at its edges. Plant them the minimum recommended distance apart for solid masses of color.

Thanks Donna, that's a clever suggestion and one I would not have thought of. I was waiting for other ideas but "No problemo", your suggestion would have won out anyway. It appealed to me at once, especially the complementary color matching idea.

I've got seven colors to play with; white, lilac, purple, yellow, deep red, coral, and rose carmine, and about 50 (x2.5) linear feet of space. I'm going to follow your suggestion to use "no fewer than 5-9 plants of one color per group" (going with 9-12!). Any I have left over will be potted in larger pots to be use for replacement later.

Any suggestions on the "complementary" idea? I'm thinking purple, yellow, coral, white, deep red, rose carmine, lilac in that order. Will that work?

You sound like you've either got some good art background or considerable experience in gardening.

Thanks so much for your contribution. Sorry to be so slow in replying to your post.

The only hesitation I have about your scheme is the coral between deep red and rose carmine. There are, of course, many ways of describing colors, but here's my perception. Compare it to yours. Deep red would be a (cool) red with tones of blue in it. Coral would be a (warm) pink with orange tones in it, and the rose carmine would be a red (cool) with more pink undertones. Warm reds and cool reds don't usually mix well right next door to each other. One easy way to arrange your colors is in order of the color wheel:
lilac, purple, rose carmine, deep red, white, coral, yellow. (I put the white between red and coral for the transition from cool to warm.)

Another way to do it would be to use the purple tones as a buffer between the reds like this:
yellow, purple, coral, lilac, rose carmine, purple, deep red, white.

A (roughly) complementary scheme would be:
lilac, yellow, purple, deep red, green (yep. there are green zinnias) or white, rose carmine, purple, coral.

This is the fun and the frustration of planning flower beds! You might try using crayons as close to the flower colors as you can get and just draw dots on paper until you get a scheme you like. It's alot easier than moving plants!

One other suggestion I would make for your bed is to incorporate something spiky. Angelonia would fill the bill perfectly, and in its many shades of purple, lilac, white, and lilac pink, you could use it to buffer the reds too. Blue Salvias (Farinacea or Mystic Spires are two good ones of several) would be another great choice (and probably less expensive than Angelonias.) Good luck!

Thanks again for your prompt response and interesting input, Donna. Your second idea, using the purple/lilac toned colors as buffers is the one I'm leaning towards at the moment. I have plenty of these, enough for them to pull "double duty". I'm getting ready to set these plants in the ground this afternoon.

I'm not sure about incorporating other spiky plants as buffers though as the variety of zinnias I have are supposed to reach 4-5 ft. in height. Any lower growing plants would be overshadowed and probably lost in the mix. I don't know anything about angelonias or mystic spires, but will try googling these later. At this point, I don't to spend any more on plants and seeds this season until I see the results of this effort. This is also why I went to seeds rather than plants.

As it is, I've already begun to think about next year. ; ) I hope to add more depth to the narrow flower beds at that time and many more plants (not my place - removing concrete border is not an option!). One idea I'm thinking about involves plants I have thriving in the garden already.

I've got five 6-ft. long color-separated beds of tall orange and red cannas, Wyomings and King Humberts. A number of years ago, I saw a photo in some gardening magazine where zinnias were grouped in front of similar beds of cannas, an arrangement that really caught my eye. Very colorful and very eye-catching! But that's for next year!

Since I've had good success with cactus-flowered zinnias in the past, I decided to try the variety Park's was offering. Though not c-f-z's, their height piqued my interest. I tend to favor taller plants because of the narrow depth beds. A glance at their website indicates that they're now running out of stock in some of the colors. They don't offer green in this variety either.

Whew, I really went off on a tangent here. Have to get to work. Thanks again for your input, Donna. You're ideas have been much appreciated and will be incorporated in my backyard. If this planting season proves fruitful, I'll send you a pic or two. Thanks again!

I didn't pick up on how high these plants will be. They sound fabulous! The angelonias and probably the Mystic Spires would be too short, but I surely do like the idea of them in front of Cannas for next year. I hope it is everything you hope for!

Please, if you get the chance, send pics for those of us following these great ideas. I will look forward to hearing more in a few weeks with pics would be great!