the zinnia patch zinnias

"Poppies have only a day to live, admitted Anne, but how imperially, how gorgeous they live it! Isn't that better than being a stiff horrible zinnia that lasts practically for ever? We have no zinnias at Ingleside. They're the only flowers we are not friends with. Susan won't even speak to them."
-Anne of Ingleside, L.M. Montgomery
Well, I have to disagree with my dear Anne with an 'e' on this one. I do love zinnias, and all the more for the fact that they live practically for ever! I planted every variety I could find along with cosmos and wildflower mixes in the wild patches of ground bordering our woods.
Here is the zinnia patch in early October last year...


There was a nice little showing of wildflowers in June (you may remember the week of blooms I shared with you) but it is the zinnias and cosmos that hold out, growing above the weeds for a grand finale of late summer blooms.
Here it is this week...
I know there is still time, but I'm pretty sure things are not shaping up to be as brilliant as they were last year. Besides the weeks of neglect due to my morning sickness, I think they simply can't compete with the native grasses and weeds that grow so thick in those woods. I've admitted before what an impatient gardener I am as well as given proof that I tend to give up on plants prematurely, so maybe I should just hold my tongue and wait and let those stiff horrible Zinnias do their thing...

"...a complete garden wouldn't really be any fun. You have to work in a garden itself or you miss it's meaning. I want to weed and dig and transplant and change and plan and prune. And I want the flowers I love..."

Oh, yes. On this one, Anne, I can agree. We want the flowers we love.