Peppermint Stick Zinnia

We were late in planting the garden, so even the quick-starters are just starting to be productive. Last year, I wasted a lot of money on exotic seeds that never germinated. Since I couldn't be sure if it was the seeds or it was me at fault, I decided to keep the flower experiments simple until I had a clue about what I was doing.
Zinnias are easy. Zinnias truly are "Flowers for Dummies". So I bought almost every Zinnia mix that Johnny's offers.

The Peppermint Stick is supposed to be a "fully double bloom".

They're not exactly turning out like that, though. (Compare with the image in that last link.)

Maybe they need more water. I kind of like them this way, though.

One of the "small percentage of solid colors" they warn you about.

This one's trying to go for "double" I guess. Sometimes one of the petals is a solid color like this. I found that if I cut them at this point, those inner petals never unfurl. They seem to stay frozen in time at the moment of cutting.
Like all the other Zinnias, they have excellent staying power as a cut flower.