The Vibrant Flower That Grows Well With Celosia In The Garden

If you simply adore a gorgeous floral display of vibrantly colored blooms in your summer garden, then you probably love growing a variety of different annuals each year. A favorite among bloom-loving gardeners is the stunning celosia, a velvety flower that'll add amazing color to your garden. It comes in a huge range of shades including yellow, red, orange, pink, and white. While these plants alone will wow you with their outstanding presence, you may want to complement them with another flowering plant that is equal in vibrancy and visual appeal. The perfect choice is, of course, the dazzling zinnia. Zinnias are available in an array of colors and create an eye-catching display when paired with celosias. Both enjoy the same growing conditions as well, making them a snap to pair in the garden.

Better yet, this duo of flowering gems are resistant to deer, and zinnias will even attract pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds to your yard. Both flowers are generally grown as annuals, but zinnias can be perennial in zones 9 to 11, and celosias can be grown as perennials in zones 10 and 11.

Zinnias, like celosias, are relatively easy to grow from seed, though you can also purchase both flowers as transplants from your local garden center. You can even grow zinnia flowers from cuttings, if you already have some in your garden. They appreciate the same conditions as celosias, including full sun and well-drained soil. For a whimsical flower meadow effect, choose zinnia and celosia varieties that will reach similar heights, and intersperse them. You'll find that cultivars of celosia are available in heights from 6 inches to 3 feet, while zinnias have a range of 8 inches to 4 feet. This also means you can create some magical border displays in your yard by mass planting taller zinnias towards the back and a variety of lower growing celosias in the front.

As a bonus, both celosias and zinnias are quite heat tolerant. That means these garden plants will thrive, even as summers get hotter and hotter. You'll also find that both plants make excellent cut flowers, if you need another reason to grow them together. Just imagine going out in the morning and filling a basket with masses of brightly colored blooms to bring indoors and arrange creatively in a vase. In fact, cutting the blooms and deadheading the spent flowers is recommended, if you want to encourage the plants to flower more. Plus, deadheading your celosias will stop them from self-seeding all over your garden, if that's not what you want.