Zinnias are true American natives but are named after Johann Gottfried Zinn, a professor of medicine at Goettingen, Germany, in the mid-18th century.

To be perfectly honest, until now, I never really liked zinnias. I considered them extremely common and coarse, by the end of the season they always look so disfigured. The leaves are like sandpaper, the petals are like sandpaper – elegant and delicate are not words you would use to describe them. But, now that I have started photographing them, I see them with a totally new eye, and all I can say is WOW ! They way the flower develops, and continues to develop is just so weird (I think).