Such a fun mix of bright colors and interesting pompon form, ‘Candy Mix’ is a playful variety that belongs in every cutting garden as well as the annual bed. These sturdy, long-lasting blooms lure butterflies in by the dozen, but their best merit may be their great hold in the vase.

Reaching 2 to 3 inches wide, these double blooms boast a pompon of tightly-clustered short petals above a skirt of longer, daisy-like petals. Very distinctive. Expect them to open in bright shades of red, cerise, orange, and yellow, plus gleaming white. Everything you need for a bright bouquetand they just keep coming all summer long.

One of the very easiest annuals to grow from seed, zinnia can be direct sown into the warm spring soil of the annual bed. It grows in a flash and blooms heavily. A “cut-and-come-again” annual, it sets new buds as soon as the old flowers are cut or deadheaded, so it repeats reliably all summer. The plant reaches about 2 fe