What To Know Before Planting The Trendy Cupcake Zinnias In Your Garden

Zinnias are a very popular flower, offering a wonderful array of colors and styles that look great in any garden. They make great cut flowers as well, and are a popular addition to flower shop bouquets. In addition to being beautiful, this fast-growing flower will turn a yard into a butterfly paradise, adding even more beauty to your garden. There are dozens of varieties of zinnias and even more hybrids and cultivars providing gardeners with an endless supply of options. One type, the cupcake zinnia, is a unique, beautiful variation that produces a fluffy-looking, double cushion of petals on top of another row of petals and comes in a variety of striking colors. 

There are a few things to know about cupcake zinnias before you grab the tools every gardener, including newbies, need to have and start planting. Although most zinnias are fuss-free plants that are great for gardening beginners, this particular variety seems to be more challenging and does not always end up looking like the extra-fluffy pictures on the seed sites. If you're an experienced gardener looking for a challenge, the cupcake zinnia could be a good choice for you to test your green thumb magic. Check out the tips and information below to use when planting and caring for your cupcake zinnias to see if you can get those beautiful, coveted fluffy double blooms to emerge. 

Weather seems to be one of the biggest factors influencing the results you get from your cupcake zinnias. Flowers grown in cooler, milder climates tend to have more success with the full scabiosa cupcake-shaped blooms than those living in hotter climates, whether dry or humid. Even in the right climates the percentages of zinnias that produce the big blooms is reported to be only about 10-15% and can be as low as 1% for many gardeners. Some factors that can improve your chances of big blooms are how much you water, the type of soil, how much sun they get, and whether you sow directly into the soil or start them in pots and transplant. In addition, some varieties are more successful, with Oklahoma zinnias having near perfect results if properly raised.

Consistently weell-watered zinnias do the best when it comes time to produce blooms. If the zinnias are too stressed, they will do what they can to redirect their energy so they don't die, going from double to single blooms. You don't need to waterlog them, but make sure they get regularly, evenly, and deeply. Plant them in well-draining soil and make sure they get lots of sun. Zinnias don't tolerate transplanting well so if at all possible direct sow them where you want them to bloom. The direct-sow tip applies to planting them in containers also. Transplant shock can cause the flowers to revert to single blooms so the least amount of stress you can put on them the better to increase your percentage of pretty double cupcake blooms.