Hi David,
" three years ago with our family visiting Bulgaria I saw some zinnias about 1.5 meters tall in a courtyard of a monastery. "
I like to say that here in the "States" that we are still "inching toward the metric system." I guess we won't be close to full adoption until we can say that "we are centimetering toward the metric system."
So, about those tall zinnias. A meter is about 39 inches, so you saw zinnias that were about 59 inches tall. That is pretty close to 5 feet tall. I have grown many zinnias that were taller than that from commercial varieties, like Giant Cactus Flowered, Giants of California, and Benary's Giants. Just plant them a little close together and give them lots of soluble nutrients and they can grow 6 feet high (about 1.8 meters) and still look good.
How high can zinnias grow? The Guinness World Records 2008 book
https://books.google.com/books... lists the record highest zinnia in 2004 as 12 ft 6 in, or in the metric system 3.81 meters. I am not sure, but I think that record has been broken since then. But, in any case, zinnias can grow
much taller than those you saw in Bulgaria.
" if i go back to the seeds in packets again story i would rather travel back to the monastery to pick up some seeds.... "
My recommendation would be to do a thorough search for online sources of zinnia seeds in Israel. Benary's Giants and/or Giants of California would be candidate tall varieties. I personally don't mind if zinnias grow tall, and I avoid short zinnias, but my primary interest is the blooms themselves.
ZM
