Or you can leave smooth white sand if you don't want to plant next year ? :)

or you can rip them out and replace them with perennials like I did.

Sometimes I write the most perfect response only to neglect to click on "Submit" and lose it all. There should be a fail safe option that warns that I am about to lose all those pearls of wisdom...

This post was edited by Emerogork2 on Thu, Sep 25, 14 at 2:27

That's the beauty and charming of Annuals. You get surprised every year. Why not! :)

My mother planted a border of flowering bushes then perennials in front of those. I added 10' of garden in front of that and sculpt it with annuals.

" I added 10' of garden in front of that and sculpt it with annuals."

That's a good plan. Enjoy the best of both worlds -- the reliable "sameness" of the shrubs and perennials and the user selectable "newness" of the front annuals bed. As a zinnia hobbyist, I "reinvent" my whole zinnia garden each year, and by some of my cross-pollinations, reinvent my zinnias as well. A few examples, starting with a "toothy petaled" specimen.

{{gwi:23631}}

Another toothy specimen.

{{gwi:20101}}

This tubular-petaled zinnia reminds me a bit of fireworks on a night sky.

{{gwi:20095}}

This one reminds me of one of those deep sea anemones, that catch fish with their tentacles.

{{gwi:23636}}

I've gotten some interesting results by crossing scabiosa flowered zinnias with large-flowered zinnias.

{{gwi:20079}}

That's just a sampler of some of my "reinvented" zinnias. I agree that annuals are like making sand sculptures. I enjoy playing in the sand.

ZM

What a great analogy!!! This past year I actually bought some flower combinations that are designed for pots, but I planted them in beds instead with fantastic results. You can change the look, the color, the texture, the height....on and on!

Here is a link that might be useful: Flower Combinations for Annual Beds

zenman: I love your zinnia pics. I only grew a tall type this season but next year I will look for some short ones and they must be disease resistant. Do you trade any zinnia seeds? I have seen so many of your pics and they are all amazing. The color of the zinnia in your first pic is so pretty!

Hi southerngardening,

Thanks for the compliments. I'm sorry, but I don't trade zinnia seeds. For disease resistant shorter zinnias next year, you can pick from any of the Zinnia marylandica species, which includes the commercial Profusion, Zahara, and Pinwheel strains.

Incidentally, my zinnias are the taller Zinnia violacea (elegans) species, and they are not disease resistant. They need to be sprayed with a fungicide every week or two, starting about September or a little before.

ZM