A History of Zinnias: Flower for the Ages
A History of Zinnias brings forward the fascinating adventure of zinnias and the spirit of civilization. With colorful illustrations, this book is a cultural and horticultural history documenting the development of garden zinnias—one of the top ten garden annuals grown in the United States today.

The deep and exciting history of garden zinnias pieces together a tale involving Aztecs, Spanish conquistadors, people of faith, people of medicine, explorers, scientists, writers, botanists, painters, and gardeners. The trail leads from the halls of Moctezuma to a cliff—diving prime minister; from Handel, Mozart, and Rossini to Gilbert and Sullivan; from a little—known confession by Benjamin Franklin to a controversy raised by Charles Darwin; from Emily Dickinson, who writes of death and zinnias, to a twenty—year—old woman who writes of reanimated corpses; and from a scissor—wielding septuagenarian who painted with bits of paper to the “Black Grandma Moses” who painted zinnias and inspired the opera Zinnias.

Zinnias are far more than just a flower: They represent the constant exploration of humankind’s quest for beauty and innovation.

1132830997
A History of Zinnias: Flower for the Ages
A History of Zinnias brings forward the fascinating adventure of zinnias and the spirit of civilization. With colorful illustrations, this book is a cultural and horticultural history documenting the development of garden zinnias—one of the top ten garden annuals grown in the United States today.

The deep and exciting history of garden zinnias pieces together a tale involving Aztecs, Spanish conquistadors, people of faith, people of medicine, explorers, scientists, writers, botanists, painters, and gardeners. The trail leads from the halls of Moctezuma to a cliff—diving prime minister; from Handel, Mozart, and Rossini to Gilbert and Sullivan; from a little—known confession by Benjamin Franklin to a controversy raised by Charles Darwin; from Emily Dickinson, who writes of death and zinnias, to a twenty—year—old woman who writes of reanimated corpses; and from a scissor—wielding septuagenarian who painted with bits of paper to the “Black Grandma Moses” who painted zinnias and inspired the opera Zinnias.

Zinnias are far more than just a flower: They represent the constant exploration of humankind’s quest for beauty and innovation.

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A History of Zinnias: Flower for the Ages

A History of Zinnias: Flower for the Ages

by Eric Grissell
A History of Zinnias: Flower for the Ages
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A History of Zinnias: Flower for the Ages

A History of Zinnias: Flower for the Ages

by Eric Grissell

Overview

A History of Zinnias brings forward the fascinating adventure of zinnias and the spirit of civilization. With colorful illustrations, this book is a cultural and horticultural history documenting the development of garden zinnias—one of the top ten garden annuals grown in the United States today.

The deep and exciting history of garden zinnias pieces together a tale involving Aztecs, Spanish conquistadors, people of faith, people of medicine, explorers, scientists, writers, botanists, painters, and gardeners. The trail leads from the halls of Moctezuma to a cliff—diving prime minister; from Handel, Mozart, and Rossini to Gilbert and Sullivan; from a little—known confession by Benjamin Franklin to a controversy raised by Charles Darwin; from Emily Dickinson, who writes of death and zinnias, to a twenty—year—old woman who writes of reanimated corpses; and from a scissor—wielding septuagenarian who painted with bits of paper to the “Black Grandma Moses” who painted zinnias and inspired the opera Zinnias.

Zinnias are far more than just a flower: They represent the constant exploration of humankind’s quest for beauty and innovation.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781557539069
Publisher: Purdue University Press
Publication date: 03/30/2020
Pages: 286
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Eric Grissell was born in Washington, DC, but spent his childhood in the San Francisco Bay Area. After obtaining a PhD in entomology from the University of California, Davis, he began work at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services identifying wasps, bees, and ants of agricultural importance. He eventually became a research entomologist for the US Department of Agriculture’s Systematic Entomology Laboratory, stationed at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. He retired after twenty—six years of service and moved first to Arizona and then to Eugene, Oregon. Although primarily trained as an entomologist, Grissell’s second love is botany and horticulture. His first book of garden essays, entitled Thyme on My Hands, appeared in 1986, followed by A Journal in Thyme in 1994. Incorporating entomology, botany, and horticulture together, he published the award—winning Insects and Gardens in 2001 and Bees, Wasps, and Ants in 2010. Grissell has published over one hundred scientific papers on insects and a dozen garden essays for popular horticultural magazines.

Read an Excerpt

In the idyllic town of Nicasio, California, not far from where I grew up, a prim and proper elementary school principal was fired for growing marijuana in her garden. She admitted having smoked it almost daily for eighteen years as an aid for relaxing and to stay up late correcting papers. The odd thing about the principal’s plight was that she was growing marijuana as a border around her zinnia bed! This, of course, is opposite to the garden norm in which zinnias should have encircled the marijuana bed as camouflage. Even so, this would have been pointless because zinnias aren’t tall enough to mask cannabis—or so I’m told. Instead of being fired for growing pot in her garden, it seems that the principal should have been fired as a poor example of rational garden design. In her defense she explained, “I do not consider marijuana a habit—forming drug . . . but for me, nicotine is."

For me, zinnias are the drug of choice. Their flowers, coming in every size, shape, and color except blue, are a mainstay of the summer and fall garden, blazing away without a care in the world. After growing all sorts of them for years, I became fascinated by their history—perhaps “antihistory”is a better word—when attempting to discover some sort of truth about their historical development, a history, it turns out, verging on a puzzling mystery at best or a stew of illusive facts peppered with semifiction at worst.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

1 From Gilbert and Sullivan to Corvettes 1

2 Starting in the Middle 9

3 Search for the Historic Zinnia: New Spain and Old Legends 17

4 Of Marigolds, Dahlias, and Zinnias 33

5 Coming of Age: The European Period 47

6 Homeward Bound: America 67

7 Doubling Your Pleasure 77

8 The Revolution 89

9 Confusion Reigns 107

10 Modern Times, or Sex to the Rescue 131

11 In the Garden 143

Acknowledgments 155

Appendix 1 Seed Sources and Developers 159

Appendix 2 Zinnia Awards 163

Appendix 3 Zinnia Species 171

Appendix 4 Historical Timeline of Garden Zinnia Development 183

Notes 189

Literature Cited 211

Index 245

About the Author 257

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