The color caught my eye.

I was also a little shocked to discover this zinnia.
I didn't bring any of last Summer's zinnia plants inside after the 2021 growing season. They were all left outside in the cold and froze as annuals normally do. I also never had zinnias ever growing in any of the same pots as any of my petunias. Nevertheless, somehow, this little guy still managed to get started on his own months after I brought the petunias inside Fall of 2021. He really doesn't look like any of the zinnias that I grew in 2021, but he may be a sport of "Purple Zinfandel" Due to the color, that's my closes guess.

Never very tall, he bloomed in March and April and early May. By the time the petunias (that he was sharing a pot with) were ready to go back outside in late May, he had vanished. If he wasn't in flower at the time, I may have accidently mistaken him as a weed in with the petunias when I did some Spring grooming. His leaves were different, and he was very small. I have no idea of what really happened for him to disappear. Nor do I know how he got started. I never allowed my outdoors zinnias to go to seed. But the seed that started this flower had to have come from somewhere. One way or another, I'm happy that I was able to take this photo to remind me of the little, pleasant surprises (even short lived) that life sometimes gives us. I really enjoyed this mysterious, little flower when almost nothing else was blooming in the solar room.