KarenHolt said:I'm hoping this next season to start cross pollinating them. Although I have been planting zins, I never planted as many as I did this year. ... This year I planted the lilac and peach zinderellas. I had the oddest one pop up that was just truly gorgeous. Sadly no pics as my computer blew up and took all my pics with it but this turned out to be more of a carnation type zinnia. It was a cream with peach picotee edgings.
Hi Karen,
Too bad about the computer crash. It sounds like that unusual Zinderella may have been a mutation. Hope you saved seeds from it, or do save seeds from it. I plan to grow Zinderellas next year.
KarenHolt said: ... whether or not I have a greenhouse is moot. I live in a warm area where I have a wee bit more time to grow and start again than others.
I agree. You don't have to have a greenhouse to breed your zinnias. I have never had a greenhouse, although I do grow a limited number of zinnias indoors in the basement under fluorescent lights during the Winter.
KarenHolt said: It's not just color that does it for me with the zinnias. It's the many forms you have been able to produce. As in the last pic on the right. Who knew that cross pollinating zinnias would do this? To me, that flower is lovely for the toothy petals simplicity. I want to do that too.
It wasn't just cross pollinating alone that produced that result. It was growing F2 generations from F1 hybrids, and re-crossing selected specimens from those F2's. It is in the F2 generation that there is a good opportunity for recombinations of genes to occur, and produce new results. And crossing those new results with other new results can lead to further new forms. The number of different things you can do with zinnias is kind of mind boggling. And it isn't always just you -- sometimes the zinnias themselves come up with unexpected surprises that can take you off in a new direction. Occasionally I see an asymmetric bloom that suggests that nice looking blooms don't have to be perfectly round.
Once you start saving seeds from your F1 hybrids, you can expect some surprises. As they say, "expect the unexpected."
ZM
