The History of Zinnias

Zinnias (Zinnia elegans) are native to Mexico. The species was first cultivated by Casimiro Gomez de Ortega, a Spanish botanist who established the first botanical garden in Madrid. In 1796, he gave zinnia seeds to the wife of the English ambassador to Madrid. She was the daughter-in-law of the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, John Stuart Bute, so the flowers were soon cultivated in England, too. Most zinnia cultivars were developed between 1820 and 1860 by gardeners working on French, Flemish, and English estates. They spread further when the seeds became available to the middle class; these were typically sold at affordable prices by seed companies that had begun to crop up around the time of the Industrial Revolution. Variegated forms of the flowers were introduced around the 1880s, and overall, breeding transformed zinnias from relatively small flowers to large, showy blooms. Double zinnias were introduced when M. Grazau of Bagneres, France discovered a reproducing double form in a seed lot he had received from the West Indies (now known as the Caribbean). Just two years later, the impressive double blooms were being offered by the Vilmorin firm and zinnias became extremely popular for a short time. When California breeder John Bodger introduced the 'Giant Dahlia' and 'Mammoth' cultivars in the early 1920s, zinnias became extremely popular once again, and the trend peaked once more in the 1950s, when Burpee’s hybrids were introduced. The flowers peaked in popularity again in the early 2000s. Today, zinnias are a staple in many gardens and offer large blooms in a variety of bright colors.