are you saying that the old flowers are fading in color .....

or are you saying that new flowers are coming out different ...

ken

This is typical for Profusion and similar zinnias. They fade as they age to a softer hue. The new ones come out brighter. I like that effect in my beds, and don't have an issue with it. I think the apricot, being more pastel in the first place, does not show so much contrast.

Both. They weren't great plants to begin with. Would that have anything to do with too? Too bad about the profusion. I have never had a problem with my regular zinnias.

If you want a shorter zinnia that keeps its red color, try the Magellan series. Not as disease resistant as the Profusion, but still pretty darned good. Magellan 'Scarlet' is something else.

I keep some ordinary cornmeal sprinkled around the base of my plants and have noticed a real improvement with the disease problems in the past few seasons. Cornmeal has some fungicidal properties.