I know all of you are expecting something unusually beautiful and utterly unexpected for this article, but what could be more beautiful than an old-fashioned, tried-and-true zinnia?

“Old maids,” my mother called them, have been mainstays in the summer garden for generations. I remember as a child seeing zinnias as well as marigolds and bachelor buttons (gomphrena) in every summer flower bed in Texas. People used to grow all their annual color from seeds, and zinnias are one of the easiest to grow from seed.

I remember helping my mother plant the seeds every spring for color all summer. We loved picking big bouquets to bring into the house. Mother always said the more you picked, the more they bloomed, and that’s true because in doing so, you are keeping them from putting all their energy into making seed. Picking bouquets is the very best way to deadhead summer annuals. You get to enjoy the flowers inside where you spend so much time.

People nowadays seem to enjoy buying zinnias by the flat, already blooming. They are never as pretty as the ones you grow from seed right where you want them.

Zinnias do not like to be messed with and really hate having their roots crowded. Growers have long stopped pinching the tops out when the third set of leaves appears and they grow up without branching. If you plant seed and remember to pinch back the third set of leaves and thin them to about 8 inches apart, you will have large, bushy plants just brimming full of blooms.

Zinnias hail from Mexico and they love heat, so there is no sense in planting them before the nights warm to at least 65 degrees usually in late April to early May. Plant zinnias in well-drained beds in full sun. They like slightly moist soil and need regular watering in drought. They hate getting their foliage wet with sprinklers when the night temps are very cool, so please wait to plant them in late spring.

I love all the colors and sizes zinnias come in. They range from 6 inches to 4 feet tall with flowers from an inch wide to 5 or more inches broad. Their colors include red, orange, yellow, magenta, white and pink. I especially love the Zinnia linearis or Crystal series. They are the original wild zinnia, and only come in gold, orange and white, about 12 to 15 inches tall covered with nickel-sized flowers.

Do you love butterflies? Zinnias are butterfly magnets, so why not plant zinnias of some kind for a festive garden all summer, and watch for butterflies.