Zahara® Starlight Rose Zinnia

• Genus: Zinnia
• Species: marylandica
• Variety: ‘PAS719128’
• Item Form: (P) Pkt of 25 seeds
• Bloom Start To End: Early Summer – Late Summer
• Habit: Compact
• Seeds Per Pack: 25
• Plant Height: 12 in – 18 in
• Plant Width: 12 in – 18 in
• Bloom Size: 2.5 in
• Additional Characteristics: Award Winner, Bloom First Year, Butterfly Lovers, Cut-and-Come-Again, Direct Sow, Easy Care Plants, Ever Blooming, Flower, Free Bloomer, Long Bloomers
• Bloom Color: Multi-Color, Rose, White
• Foliage Color: Medium Green
• Light Requirements: Full Sun
• Moisture Requirements: Dry, Moist,  well-drained
• Resistance: Drought Tolerant, Heat Tolerant, Humidity Tolerant, Powdery Mildew, Stemphylium (Gray Leaf Spot)
• Soil Tolerance: Normal,  loamy
• Uses: Beds, Border, Cut Flowers, Outdoor

Here it is, the bedding Zinnia of our dreams! The Zahara® series introduced in 2009 immediately became famous for its resistance to mildew and leaf spot, its nonstop blooms, and its larger flower size. Now the newest and best color, Starlight Rose, has won a 2010 AAS award!

These blooms are fully 2 ½ inches wide, and there’s more of them — they pop up all over super-compact plants, drawing bees and butterflies into the garden and absolutely wowing those hot, dry beds and water-starved containers. Single-flowered, they offer pure white petals with a hot-rose halo at the center. And as the summer sun warms them each day, the rosy shade grows deeper and more intense!

Renowned for its ability to withstand heat, humidity, drought, and just about anything else, Zahara® Starlight Rose is the first bicolor bedding Zinnia that can truly claim to be disease-resistant. Mildew is a traditional enemy of the Zinnia, but Zahara’s® got it licked! (Or should we say “dried”?!) Luckily, it’s also very long-blooming, prepared to continue well into autumn as long as the hot weather holds. What a joy!

This is the annual you’ll want along that baking-hot driveway or cement path, crowding against the house (whose walls reflect heat), and beautifying the patio (which never gets watered often enough). Just 12 to 18 inches high and wide, it can be planted a bit more closely than other bedding Zinnias, again thanks to the mildew resistance. No need to worry about the foliage “touching”!

Direct-sow the seeds. When the soil has already warmed and spring is well underway, this plant will flower within 5 to 6 weeks of sowing. But if you want to get an earlier start, or if that hot April turns into a chilly May, no fear — Zahara® Starlight Rose will grow vigorously all the same, and simply wait for the warm weather before blooming! Why can’t all plants be this cooperative?

Zahara® Starlight Rose was award a 2010 All-America Selection for garden-worthiness, and you will soon see why! Ease of growth and minimal care are key to the AAS judges, so you can always rely on an AAS winner to outperform most others, and with little effort on your part! Pkt is 25 seeds.