Newly added to our garden is this Zinnia. According to the tag, it is a ‘zinnia elegans.’ I looked up this variety on Floridata (see below the photo).
Zinnia elegans is the most well known of the 20 or so species in the zinnia genus. The wild form is a coarse, upright, bushy annual, to 30 in (76 cm) high, with solitary daisylike flowerheads on long stems, and opposite, sandpapery, lance shaped leaves. The ray flowers are purple, the discs yellow and black, and the entire head is about 2 in (5 cm) across. Gardeners love zinnias and there are at least a hundred cultivars in a diversity of flower colors and types, some with flowerheads up to 6 in (15 cm) across. There are zinnias with white, cream, green, yellow, apricot, orange, red, bronze, crimson, purple, and lilac flowers; zinnias with striped, speckled and bicolored flowers; zinnias with double, semi-double and dahlia-like “pompon” flowers; zinnias that range from dwarfs that don’t exceed 6 in (15 cm) in height to cut flower beauties that get 3 ft (0.9 m) tall. Newer varieties are resistant to powdery mildew and other diseases.
Wow, there are sure a lot of facts about these flowers, but all I know is this one is very pretty!