Every other day I love walking around the house to see if anything new has bloomed.... in one area I have the candy cane zinnias planted... check out this bloom.... if I save the seeds..do you think I'll have blooms like this next year?

xoxomonisia said: ... check out this bloom.... if I save the seeds..do you think I'll have blooms like this next year?

Hi Monika,

A few might be. You will probably get solid colors from the solid petals and white striped petals from petals like. And a few might be "half and half" like this bloom.

ZM

Here's a little update.....
That zinnia that I posted is going to seed, but another bloom on the same stalk is a solid color...

Hi Monika,

Interesting. My guess is that all the seeds from that solid red bloom would produce plants with solid red blooms. But that is just a guess. Zinnias are full of surprises. If you like striped and spotted zinnias, you might want to try some of the Peppermint Stick zinnias. They come in a variety of color combinations, not just red and white.

ZM

xoxomonisia said:

Every other day I love walking around the house to see if anything new has bloomed.... in one area I have the candy cane zinnias planted... check out this bloom.... if I save the seeds..do you think I'll have blooms like this next year?

• Zinnia (Zinnia elegans 'Candy Cane Mix')
• Uploaded by xoxomonisia

Sure worth saving! I was happy with Pinwheel Zinnias giving me 5 colors from 4 plants in one deck pot! Can I actually save the seeds?

Wow! Good work .
I save a 5 gal. bucket of spent zinnia flowers; let them dry; and broadcast the seeds next year. My 100' row is full of surprises. This year my plants were 5' high - a record for me. Zone 4b, st clair michigan farm.
Kate

So you are going back to the F1 parents? That's COOL!

I have 2 areas of edged plantings for random flowers. I will take as many flowerheads as I can collect and sprinkle the seeds all around through both and see what happens next year.

If it works, great. If not, I will pull up the weeds and try again. Its not like anyone is coming by to criticize those spots, LOL!

EVENTUALLY, I will have a weird unorganized collection of flowers there.

I save zinnia seeds over the Fall and Winter and plant zinnia beds the next Spring. This is one such bed.

I also grow some zinnias indoors during the Winter. I do get a few "volunteer" zinnias from seeds that fell onto the ground and survived the Winter, but that is only a few zinnias, because most zinnia seeds don't survive being on the ground during the Winter. That would be very poor storage conditions. I try to keep my saved zinnia seeds dry and cool.

Good luck everyone

Hi I don't grow zinnias but came over to see Zen Man's stuff. We get that different petal look in irises, known as a chimara. Not sure of the spelling on that. It is often caused by cold when the flower is forming. Does the same thing happen in zinnias ZM?

irisarian said:Hi I don't grow zinnias but came over to see Zen Man's stuff. We get that different petal look in irises, known as a chimara. Not sure of the spelling on that. It is often caused by cold when the flower is forming. Does the same thing happen in zinnias ZM?

Hi Lucy,

No, the cold does not seem to affect zinnia petal formation. Cooler Fall temperatures do tend to make the zinnia colors a bit more intense, though. Zinnias do not "like" cold weather, and become very susceptible to disease in cool weather. This picture of my South Zinnia Garden was taken three days ago.

These are a couple of my breeder zinnias that I am saving seeds from.

Our weather has been unusually warm here in east central Kansas. Last year we had a killing frost on October 30th. This year they say our killing frost will come after November 9th. That gives me a little more time to save some breeder zinnia seeds and do some cleanup in my zinnia beds.

ZM

Hi everyone....i don't know about you....but I'm ready for the zinnias!!!

xoxomonisia said:Hi everyone....i don't know about you....but I'm ready for the zinnias!!!

Hi Monika,

You can always catch up on my zinnias over at

The thread "It can be fun to breed your own zinnias." in Annuals forum

My indoor zinnia project is just wrapping up as I plant seeds in-ground here in east-central Kansas. Some of my favorite indoor specimens have been the ones with fingers on their petals.

Hopefully I will get some good zinnia specimens in my outdoor zinnias.

ZM

I have a similar half and half zinnia also. Curious if xoxomonisia had luck with planting the seeds.

Muck104 said:I have a similar half and half zinnia also. Curious if xoxomonisia had luck with planting the seeds.

Hi Muck,

Welcome to the National Gardening Association. It would be interesting if you could save seeds that would produce those half-and-half zinnias. My guess is that the solid colors on each side come true solid, but there might be a few seeds on the intersection that would produce half-and-half zinnias. I suggest you give it a try with your specimen.

I have been propagating my narrow-petaled or needle-petaled zinnias in my zinnia patch.

I grow my "breeder quality" zinnias in cages (similar to tomato cages) to give them some protection from our Kansas windstorms. I use a lot of zinnia cages, so I make them myself from concrete re-mesh wire. Again, welcome.
ZM

Hey, zenman; good to see your latest zinnia !
Mine were slow to start, but a doing great now.

Hi Kathy,

That's an interesting single zinnia. The petals have a unique shape at the end and they are spaced wide apart. That's a kind of unique flower form. I think you should save seeds from it. These are a couple more of my "weirdo" home hybridized zinnias.

We got some much needed rain this afternoon.

ZM

@Zenman,
wow. these zinnias are new to me.
Could you tell me the names?
thanks
ellen

ZenMan said:
Hi Lucy,

No, the cold does not seem to affect zinnia petal formation. Cooler Fall temperatures do tend to make the zinnia colors a bit more intense, though. Zinnias do not "like" cold weather, and become very susceptible to disease in cool weather. This picture of my South Zinnia Garden was taken three days ago.

These are a couple of my breeder zinnias that I am saving seeds from.

• Zinnia
• Uploaded by ZenMan

• Zinnia
• Uploaded by ZenMan

Our weather has been unusually warm here in east central Kansas. Last year we had a killing frost on October 30th. This year they say our killing frost will come after November 9th. That gives me a little more time to save some breeder zinnia seeds and do some cleanup in my zinnia beds.

ZM

Beautiful!

Did you just scatter seeds to get this?
I love the close up look.
Seed packages say 12 inches apart. But I just sowed seeds a few inches apart.
It doesn't look like you get any fungus problem.

ellen

ZenMan said:I save zinnia seeds over the Fall and Winter and plant zinnia beds the next Spring. This is one such bed.

I also grow some zinnias indoors during the Winter. I do get a few "volunteer" zinnias from seeds that fell onto the ground and survived the Winter, but that is only a few zinnias, because most zinnia seeds don't survive being on the ground during the Winter. That would be very poor storage conditions. I try to keep my saved zinnia seeds dry and cool.