The Zinnia Profusion Series Will Fill Your Garden With Color

Lori VanoverUpdated: May 16, 2023

Plant zinnia profusion series for a summer-long parade of color. These flowers are easy to start from seed, disease resistant and pollinators love them.

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Zinnia Profusion Double Hot Cherry 12 — Zinnia Profusion Double Hot Cherry

Zinnia Profusion Series

Brighten up your backyard with long-lasting, colorful zinnias. These flowers are a great choice for both beginners and experienced gardeners. If you’re looking to add seasonal color, focus on those tough-as-nails annuals. Profusion zinnias are more disease-resistant than some you may have tried in the past.

This series of zinnia varieties such as Profusion Red, Profusion White and Profusion Fire—you get the idea—packs vibrant color into small spots. Well-suited for containers, Profusion has won several All-America Selections gold medals. The plants are compact and bask in summer’s hottest heat.

Incredibly simple to start from seed, sun-loving zinnias bloom quickly. All you need is a sunny spot and a packet of zinnia seeds will go a long way. Direct sow the seeds after the last frost. With zinnia seeds, you create a summer-long parade of colors. They also make great cut flowers.

Hummingbirds and butterflies will sip nectar from the central florets. This versatile plant also has seed heads that attract several varieties of sparrows, finches and juncos.

Check out the top 15 easy flowers anyone can grow.

Zinnia Profusion Double Hot Cherry

Zinnia X Hybrida, Annual

Bloom time: Early summer to late summer

Light: Full sun

From spring to frost, this gorgeous zinnia will impress you with deep rose, double-petal blooms. Like others in the Profusion series, Double Hot Cherry isn’t picky. In fact, it’s easy to grow and will perform well in a wide range of climates. Flowers don’t get much more low-maintenance than zinnias. They need almost zero care during the growing season.

Also look for this top performer in a pink-orange color called Profusion Double Deep Salmon.

Originally Published: January 15, 2021

Lori Vanover

Lori has 20 years of experience writing and editing home, garden, birding and lifestyle content for several publishers. As Birds & Blooms senior digital editor, she leads a team of writers and editors sharing birding tips and expert gardening advice. Since joining Trusted Media Brands 13 years ago, she has held roles in digital and print, editing magazines and books, curating special interest publications, managing social media accounts, creating digital content and newsletters, and working with the Field Editors—Birds & Blooms network of more than 50 backyard birders. Passionate about animals and nature, Lori has a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural and Environmental Communications from the University of Illinois. In 2023, she became certified as a Wisconsin Extension Master Gardener, and she is a member of the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology and sits on the organization's Publications Advisory Committee. She frequently checks on her bird feeders while working from home and tests new varieties of perennials, herbs and vegetable plants in her ever-growing backyard gardens.