Ideas to decorate your world with flowers and vegetables. But it wasn't always so. There are more than a dozen species of zinnias, members of the Compositae, or daisy family, but only three species are regularly grown in home gardens.
Flowers are available in just about every color except blue.
The plants have narrower foliage and smaller single flowers. Crystal White' is also more compact than the species, which can spread to 2 feet. Z. angustifolia may overwinter in Zones 9-11. Probably the least known of zinnias is Z. haageana, or the Mexican zinnia. Named for Dr. Johann Gottfried Zinn, who wrote the first description of the flower, the genus Zinnia had to wait for the late 19th century to become more successful as a garden annual.