Hi Greg,
That zinnia would thank you for the compliment, if it could.
It was one of many rather odd recombinant zinnias I have had over the years. It had Whirligig and scabious flowered zinnias in its ancestors.
Crossing other zinnias with Scabious flowered zinnias can lead to some nice recombinant variations, like this one.
This scabious recombinant zinnia had extremely large long guard petals, which reminded me of a waterlily bloom.
I hope to re-invent that look in a future scabious based strain. I probably have "too many irons in the fire" but that seems to be normal for home hobby zinnia breeding.
ZM
