Zinnias are native to Mexico and Central America. The Aztecs originally called them “plants that are hard on the eyes” because of their colorful flowers. Zinnia is named after Johann Gottfried Zinn, a German botany professor who discovered these plants and brought them back to Europe in the 1700s. The original plants have expanded in flower colors and plant shapes and sizes, due to their popularity with breeders. You can now buy Zinnia seeds or plants that range from 6 inches tall to almost 4 feet tall. There are varieties with single or double petaled flowers in almost all the colors of the rainbow.

Zinnias are great beginning gardener flowers. The seeds are large enough to place individually in holes and germinate quickly in warm soils with plants that grow fast to the flowering stage. Once flowering, even if you don't deadhead the spent blooms, zinnias, especially newer hybrids, will continue to produce more flower until frost.

Named after a botanist Dr Johann Gottfried Zinn who first discovered the flower, Zinnia is one of the most exuberant flowers available. Thoughts of friends or thoughts of a missing friend are the most common meanings for the zinnia. Some of the other interpretations of the flower include endurance, daily remembrance, goodness and lasting affection.

The zinnia endures through many trials and tribulations of unforgiving heat, drought and bugs and still perseveres, thereby making for a perfect gift representing strength and perseverance.