Z is for ZINNIA

  

One of my dreams has always been to have a cutting garden.  Alas in Las Vegas growing anything takes an extra amount of work that I just never seemed to have the time for.  Oh I have some flowers every year growing in pots around the front door but nothing like the flower gardens of my dreams.

I plant the usual geraniums, pansies, and chrysanthemums but a new favorite has emerged.  I tried to find zinnias a few years back at all the local garden centers and all I
could find were a pack of seeds.  I planted the seeds that spring and while they don't look like the pictured bright red flowers, I did get a sturdy plant full of orange blooms. They have successfully reseeded themselves every year after that.  They grow kind of tall (about 3 feet high) and spindly but they are a nice splash of color by my front door.

What is it about Zinnias?  I mean there are lots of great flowers but I just find them so cheerful, colorful and they just make me happy.   Add it to the fact that they are SO easy to grow makes them a favorite for many flowerbeds.  I was mildly surprised to find they are part of the daisy family but the information I was reading also said they were part of the sunflower tribe.  I didn't know that flowers were classified in tribes.  I mean family and species classifications I remember but I don't recall "Tribe" as a scientific classification.  Of course biology has been a number of years ago so maybe this is just unique to flowers or something new.








When my much awaited mega large set of Prismacolor colored pencils arrived the first sketch I did with them was that of Zinnias.  I absolutely love all the colors I now can choose from.  Just look at all those oranges, yellows and pinks.  The choices made for happy little zinnias.  My original artwork is a 5 x 7, matted to 8 x 10 and is available for purchase.  I can also make prints, magnets and greeting cards if you just love the design.  Send me a message and I will be happy to get you prices.

I love filling up my artistic journal pages and maybe this is cheating because I've gotten where I just add copies of my sketches into the pages and add my thoughts about each of the piece or share a poem that I wrote to go along with the artwork.  I know I'm really supposed to draw directly into the book but I just find that I enjoy this so much better.  It's combining my finished works that I like and yet I'm journaling about things that are important to me.  I thought I would share my Zinnia journal entry from last week to close out this blog post.

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Zinnia Journal Entry in my Sketchbook Journal