I had, until recently, turned my nose up at many plants due to their "common" status, if only in my opinion. I never liked the Old Fashioned echinacea for their wishy-washy badminton habit, I snubbed single blooming hollyhocks and an absolute bore, and complete dismissed gladiolus as a flat out old lady staple far too often done. Yet, these all have a fabulous, dare I say even high brow attitude when properly situated in the cottage garden setting. I love all my new hybrid coneflowers, but is there anything more romantic than a clump of established regular old coneys in the middle of July? Or the swinging heads of English garden single bloomed Hollyhocks up in the sky- or a vibrant drift of glads in August? A garden just isn't complete without that established old world look these sometimes cast aside plants we aloof modern gardeners snobishly push aside. Well this year Zinnia Elegans - Thumbelina has me forgetting about their floppy pompom cousins. They are the perfect stature reaching 18-24" max in Maryland. They are semi-double with yellow stamens and create a conical center when fading that I used to practically despise, I find utterly charming. They're still butterfly magnets and are perfect for edging. I will definitely rethink any plant from your mothers garden or years past that I used to roll my eyes over- There is a reason that they are so beloved.