Flower / Warm season
California Giant Zinnia
Cut-flower rows and vegetable-bed insectary strips.
Not a culinary crop; grown for color and pollinator traffic.
Seed spacing and maturity
- Days to maturity
- 75
- Germination temperature
- 70-85F
- Seed depth
- 0.25 inches
- Spacing
- 12 inches
- Row spacing
- 18 inches
- Start method
- Either
Frost-date timing
- Indoor start
- 4 weeks before last frost
- Direct sow
- 7 days after last frost
- Transplant
- 7 days after last frost
- Succession interval
- repeat every 21 days
Action plan
- Can I plant this now?
- Use your local last-frost, first-frost, and soil-temperature checks before treating this crop as plantable today.
- Start indoors or direct sow?
- Direct sow or transplant depending on your soil warmth, bed readiness, and frost-risk plan.
- How much space?
- 12 inches in-row spacing, 18 inches between rows, and 0.25 inch seed depth.
- Best companions?
- Use this as part of a diverse flowering or herb planting, and treat companion claims as site-specific rather than guaranteed pest control.
- Common failure modes?
- Crowding and overhead watering invite powdery mildew. Water at soil level; good air flow reduces mildew. Well-drained, moderately fertile soil.
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Water at soil level; good air flow reduces mildew.
- Soil
- Well-drained, moderately fertile soil.
- Watch
- Crowding and overhead watering invite powdery mildew.
- cut-flowers
- pollinators
- containers
- summer
Browse context
- Flower Catalog Category collection
- Aster Family Rotation and family context
- Warm Season Seeds Season collection
- Either Seeds Start-method collection
- Container-Friendly Seeds Practical trait collection
- Beginner-Friendly Seeds Practical trait collection
- High Pollinator Value Seeds Practical trait collection
- Succession Sowing Seeds Practical trait collection
Related varieties
- Broadleaf Sage Mint family · Warm season · 75 days
- Sensation Mix Cosmos Aster family · Warm season · 75 days
- Roma Tomato Nightshade family · Warm season · 76 days
- California Wonder Pepper Nightshade family · Warm season · 72 days
- Black Beauty Eggplant Nightshade family · Warm season · 80 days
- Common Lemon Balm Mint family · Warm season · 70 days
Source: UMN starting seeds indoors