Zin, Zin, Zinnia

I bought a packet of Zinnia seeds on a whim and sowed some in the experimental flower bed. Along with plants it's pretty much the only thing I impulse buy, so please forgive me.  Fortunately my guilty purchase  also coincided with me finally managing to get Wheelie under control and not escaping from the pen every morning or conveniently whenever I had planted a new lot of seeds in the flower bed (which happened on no less than five occasions with many expletives and a fair amount of arm waving).  I suppose you have to learn patience somehow. At least I get eggs in return and plenty of practice at designing and redesigning the layout of the flower bed.  For once the packet instructions were right for Brisbane and the seeds have grown well into beautiful plants that resemble a cross between gerberas and dahlias, both of which I love.  Needless to say I'm delighted with them.  Although I wasn't originally aiming for a pink scheme as I'm not the biggest fan of the colour, it turns out that's what I've got and the varying shades from red to peach are tying in quite nicely with the pinks, white and purple of the existing flowers.  I've sewn some of the zinnia's cousin cosmos in white at the back of the bed when viewing from the bottom of the back door ramp, so hopefully that will set the colours off nicely when it has matured.