Zinnias -  What would we do without them?  I like a flower that is not demanding, but puts on a big colorful show.  I'm always looking for low upkeep in the flower garden.  I've found that I'm a very  enthusiastic gardener in the spring, but lose interest quickly as soon as the weather gets hot.  Some deadheading and a little weeding are about all I'm willing to do after mid-July.

I got a good start on my zinnias this year, made some pretty cute little newspaper pots and planted my seeds indoors in late April.  Zinnias are not known as being easy to transplant, they prefer to be seeded directly in the ground after the soil has warmed up.  I've not had much luck seeding them in my beds because of the snails.  The tiny zinnias haven't a chance.   So this year I'm trying the newspaper pots, thinking that they can be transplanted pot and all with little disturbance to the plants.

I found several varieties of zinnia that I wanted to try and ended up with 4 trays of plants.  I started them indoors, then moved them to our little greenhouse/cold frame.  They have done quite well despite the cool wet weather.  For the past couple of weeks I've been working on moving them to my flower beds in between rain storms.  One morning last week I discovered that my zinnias had been raided. It seems that one marauding snail finally slimed his way into a tray of tender baby zinnias. He, or she, had quite a feast. You can be sure that I put a stop to that - and expedited my transplanting efforts.  I now have zinnia plants marching around my yard in three separate gardens.  They seem to have survived the transplant and our latest deluge.  I have surrounded them with slug bait and judging from the number of snail carcuses I'm collecting, it seems to be working. I'm looking forward to a yard filled with lovely big showy zinnias.Keep your fingers crossed.