Driving slowly to scan the fields and farms along Volkman Road, Scott Township, Indiana, Bonnie MacArthur comments, "That's it." The avid gardener has spied The Zinnia Meadow, an eye-popping palette of brilliant colors in the beds along the road. In patches among the zinnias grow stands of sunflowers and bursts of cosmos, irresistible to the bees and butterflies that lilt through the rows of stems and branches to the hum of cicadas.
The Zinnia Meadow sits on the 10-acre homestead Ellie Ziliak shares with her husband, Austin, not far from his family's farm. Two years ago, Ellie started tilling rows of zinnias and sold customers the opportunity to snip and pay. "I stopped at a U-pick while visiting my grandparents in Wabash and thought, 'I can do this,'" she says.
So, she did, and her garden grew. Customers returned and spread the word. The field of blooms multiplied as Ellie sprinkled variety among the rows of zinnias with bursts of cosmos and stalks of sunflowers. "The more flowers, the less moving," she says, smiling.
Wandering the rows, Newburgh, Indiana, resident and visiting gardener DeeDee Shoemaker gazes around in awe at the panoply of plants as Ellie approaches her. "Beautiful. And bountiful. And big," DeeDee says to Ellie. "You have zinnias galore and more."
Read more at Evansville Living
