Gold medal performer

Bee magnet: Zinnias are ideal for growing near the vegetable patch to encourage beneficial pollinating insects.

Zinnias are brilliant annual plants for bringing vibrant floral colour into the garden, particularly during the heat of summer.

Bees love zinnia flowers, so zinnias are ideal for growing near the vegetable patch to encourage beneficial pollinating insects.

Yates Zinnia Gold Medal contains a spectacular and long-flowering mix of double, dahlia-flowered blooms on 1.2 m tall stems.

The scarlet, yellow, orange and pink blooms will appear throughout the warmer months and are perfect for cutting.

Zinnia Gold Medal’s impressive size means it can be grown as a striking floral backdrop in a garden bed.

Here’s how to grow a beautiful patch of zinnias:

• Yates Zinnia Gold Medal seed can be sown directly where the plants are to grow or sown into trays of Black Magic Seed Raising Mix and the seedlings very gently transplanted into their final home when they’re large enough to handle. Give each plant around 40cm of space to grow.

* Zinnias prefer a position that receives at least 6 hours of sunshine a day and well-drained soil.

• Before sowing seed, mix some Yates Dynamic Lifter Organic Plant Food into the soil. This will promote improved soil health and provide the new zinnia seedlings with gentle slow release organic nutrients as they establish.

• Keep the soil moist and seedlings will emerge in 7-10 days.

• Pinching out the first buds will encourage bushier plants.

• Once the plants are established, feed the zinnia patch every 1- 2 weeks with Yates Thrive Flower & Fruit Soluble Fertiliser, which is a complete plant food that’s boosted with additional flower-promoting potassium. It takes around 12 weeks for flowers to start appearing.

• To keep the zinnias looking tidy and prolong the flowering season, regularly remove spent flower heads.

Cosmos

You can also bring vibrant floral colour to your summer garden by sowing cosmos seeds throughout New Zealand during November.

New Yates Cosmos Tango produces a display of extravagant semi-double flame red blooms that mature to vibrant orange with yellow centres. They create a spectacular show when planted in blazing massed drifts and are especially good as a tall backdrop against a fence, with the plants reaching an impressive 120 cm tall.

Cosmos Tango is very hardy with excellent heat and drought tolerance. The flowers are particularly attractive to bees and can also be cut for a vase display. — Courtesy of Yates