Blake Lively revealed earlier this year that she 'moonlights as an interior designer' when she showed off her Tribeca apartment's bedroom in an Instagram post. Well, it turns out that the actor and star of the upcoming Colleen Hoover adaptation, It Ends With Us, has just as much of a green thumb.
The Gossip Girl alum recently shared a photo of her growing zinnias in her garden, which she explains is a newfound passion.
'I’ve always thought I was a florist, well before playing one,' Lively captioned the post. 'I buy corner store flowers, take them home, reassemble them, and give them new life. Ever since I moved to the city at 19, that’s been one of my creative and meditative anchors. It’s design, it’s interacting with nature, it’s a multi sensory joy. Whenever I get the opportunity to garden from scratch and assemble fresh arrangements, I feel like the luckiest person on the planet. It’s straight-up peace. No, there’s no joke coming. Just me being earnest about flowers. '
We can't help but agree with Lively's sentiments on the joys of planting flowers, and we particularly love that she's showcasing her zinnias.
'Zinnias are one of the easiest cut flower to grow in any yard,' says Homes & Gardens' Gardens content editor Thom Rutter. 'These annuals are quick to germinate from seed, and are long-flowering, producing blooms for much of the summer. As Blake Lively shows, zinnias can be grown in a rainbow of colors, from pink to red, yellow to orange.'
Comprising 250 Zinnia seeds, this offers all we need to fill our yards with some Lively-inspired vibrancy. This great classic garden flower is excellent for cutting and attracting bees, butterflies, and birds (while looking beautiful in the process).
Apart from the zinnias themselves, gardeners curious about growing the flowers themselves will need a couple of other essentials to keep these blooms in tip-top shape.
'To keep zinnias blooming, it is important to water and feed your flowers with a bloom booster fertilizer, available from Walmart, during the spring and summer months,' Rutter says. 'With the right care, they can keep producing flowers right up until the first frost.'
Natural beauties, zinnias also make great house decor, coming in vibrant hues of red, orange, yellow, and pink, along with lavender and white.
'What's more, they are an impactful addition to a vase,' Rutter states. 'So, if you are looking for colorful blooms indoors and outdoors, zinnias are the plant to grow.'
Formulated to produce big blooms and vibrant colors, this flower food can be used on any blooming plant. Feed plants this special formulation every 7 to 14 days before and during bud-set and bloom to enjoy more blooms and ultra-bright and beautiful colors.
We recommend zinnias to anyone looking for a bright, easy-to-care-for floral addition to their garden. They also look lovely in a mixed bouquet with flowers of varying sizes and shapes. Plus, they're Blake Lively-approved, so what more convincing could we ever need?
