Pronounciation: Zi-KNEE-a ha-ag-e-AN-a

Hardiness zones
Sunset All zones as annual
USDA All zones as annual

Landscape Use: This is a great warm season accent bedding plant for all of Arizona and a spring and fall bedding plant for the lower Arizona desert landscapes. It is much like Zinnia elegans in that it is a great summer youth garden plant because it's easy to grow, dependable, and showy.

Form & Character: Diminutive, dense, small, bushy to spreading depending on cultivar, tender but tough, cheerful.

Growth Habit: Evergreen, herbaceous annual, mostly small, less than 24-inches tall with greater spread.

Foliage/Texture: Ovate to lanceolate, medium green, mostly sessile, scabrous; medium fine texture.

Flowers & Fruits: Bright white to yellow, red and mahogany, perfect ray flowers, single and double born terminally on stems; fruit inconspicuous.

Seasonal Color: In Phoenix, Mexican zinnia flowers profusely from May to early December.

Temperature: This is a remarkable heat tolerant Zinnia species. Great for use in the arid Southwest lower deserts as a water season annual, even in reflected light locations and western exposures.

Light: Full sun

Soil: Tolerant, well drained, but with moderate to high organic matter content. A good organic mulch that helps conserve moisture and keep soil temperatures cool will benefit this plant much.

Watering: Make sure to provide copious and frequent amounts of water for this plant to thrive during the scorching hot summer months in Phoenix.

Pruning: Almost none required; however, fastidious gardeners will want to remove spent flowers to encourage more blooms.

Propagation: Seed, really easy - a good dependable, beginner gardeners plant. Can re-seed in ensuing years in a garden spot if conditions are favorable.

Disease and Pests: Relatively pest free.

Additional comments: This wonderful warm season annual does amazingly well in Phoenix during the summer. I highly recommend it for summer color in Phoenix during a time of year when life is generally stressful. There are many named cultivated varieties of different flower colors such as the dwarf cultivars named 'White Star' and 'Orange Profusion'.