A couple of weeks ago I thought this might be the last zinnia of 2022. So I carried it, held over my head through a paddock full of interested goats, up to the house. Popped it into a little vase along with a handful of Galinsoga parviflora. Photographed it. Sketched it. Enjoyed a late-summer posy for many days before it gradually lowered it's head and faded.
When I harvested the tomatoes last week, there was one more zinnia!
With color every bit as brilliant, but petals showing the challenges of blooming when nights are sometimes dipping below freezing.
There's beauty in the struggle.
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Have to admire that zinnia for its perseverence! And now you get to enjoy it for a little while longer.
ReplyDeleteWe currently have a fuschia on our balcony that is surviving despite there being at least three nights of frost. Still blooming bravely after an entire summer of having a prolific amount of flowers every single day.
That's wonderful! I'd expect a fuschia would be quite delicate in terms of cold temperatures. Maybe I'll add one to my 2023 gardening list :)
DeleteAw, the last zinnia. Definitely something special.
ReplyDeleteThey are such a bright spot in the vegetable garden.
DeleteVery pretty! I wish I had brought in a few of mine (I'll make note for next year).
ReplyDeleteThey often last a long time in a vase!
DeleteAfter years of saying "pish-tosh" to zinnias, your photos and sketches over the last few years converted me. Our very last ones have bit the dust, but they too lasted well past the first frosts.
ReplyDeleteChris from Boise
That makes me smile, in part because it was a comment from another blogger that convinced me to buy my first packet of zinnia seeds a few years ago :)
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