Calsurf73 said:Last summer I became obsessed with the green zinnias and planted a slew of them. I was horribly disappointed in them but that was probably because we had horrific heat and humidity for months and they were just sort of a blah beige color.
I'll try them again this year.
Hi Mike,
A few years ago I grew some of the "original" green zinnias, the variety called Envy (green with envy) and they grew well enough, but they were too green for my taste. The blooms were nearly as green as their foliage. I suspect their green color is just plain chlorophyll, and the blooms may actually be helping the plant along by doing some photosynthesis.
In recent years I did grow a green zinnia from Burpee called Tequila Lime that I liked better.
http://www.burpee.com/flowers/...
It looks like it is a green that was crossed with a white zinnia. Unlike Envy, it has a noticeably white center, and is a lighter more delicate shade of green. This is a picture of one of my indoor Tequila Lime specimens.
In my opinion, the contrasting white center really "makes" that zinnia. Benary's Giants have a green version, but it does not appeal to me either, and some of the apparent crosses between green and other colors don't look at all appealing to me. Although, I think it might be interesting to cross Tequila Lime with some of my fluffier white zinnias, like this one.
Also, I think it might look "neat" to have a two-color combination of light green and white on the same petal. And light green might cross nicely with light yellow, to give a pale yellow green petal color.
There are a lot of potentially interesting crosses that you could make with green zinnias, but be prepared for some results that you might not like. But, as they say, "nothing ventured, nothing gained", and some of the green-cross results might turn out great.
I do encourage you to experiment with crossing zinnias. It is very easy to do, and takes only a few minutes to do enough cross pollination to produce hundreds of your very own home hybridized zinnia seeds. Which is way cheaper than buying them, and much more interesting as well.
Depending on your growing season, if you get an early start, you might get some viable "green" seeds soon enough to start a second generation of zinnias that you could see bloom, cross pollinate, and save seeds from the very same year. The
green seed technique has nothing to do with the flower color -- it refers to saving zinnia seeds much earlier than is done usually.
The petal may still have full coloration, but the embryo has developed fully and is capable of germination. It is key to an early start of a second generation of zinnias the same year. It can be nice not to have to wait a year to see the results of your cross. And very interesting to make crosses between your crosses the same year.
ZM
