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I live in south Alabama and have planted Zinnias for two year around my house , they grow tall but I noticed at a hotel the other day that their zinnias were short but with a bunch of blomes , did they just have a different type or am I doing something wrong in letting them get so tall (3 to 4 feet ) They also have a gray-white dry crust on the leaves of some of the plants ?
there are different types of zinnia. Im currently growing California Giants in my front flower beds and they are approx. 2 - 3 ft tall. they have 3 - 4 blooms each and are great in a cut flower garden. some zinnia grow lower and with many more, smaller blooms on them. Im sure the zinnia the hotel are growing are a different type.
There are many hybrid types of zinnia. The old types were tall like you were saying. You are seeing powdery mildew, the bane of zinnias and other plants. Spraying with a fungicide will help control it, but is it worth it? Your call.
The older taller varieties of Zinnias are prone to getting powdery mildew, vs. the newer strains which appear to be more resistant to it. If you grow them in an area that gets a lot of fog, it's better to keep the foliage dry and avoid overhead watering.
There's a lot of postings about the "Profusion" series of Zinnias in the annuals forum by a member in Fla.
Keeping the foliage dry and avoiding overhead watering is a good idea, but what do you do when it rains? Go out and hold an umbrella over them?
My neighbor has the Profusion series along a walkway and they are not profuse at all. They are kind of just sitting there. They have blooms, but they are far from spectacular.
