My ‘Queen Lime’ zinnias have just started to bloom in my vegetable garden. It’s time to share a favorite poem.

Zinnias, stout and stiff,
Stand no nonsense: their colors
Stare, their leaves
Grow straight out, their petals
Jut like clipped cardboard,
Round, in neat flat rings.
Even cut and bunched
Arranged to please us
In the house, in the water, they
Will hardly wilt–I know
Someone like zinnias: I wish
I were like zinnias.

Now you know why I like zinnias. One of my favorite summer annuals, zinnias grow in my vegetable garden every year.