Hi Jai,
" In your opinion what would you say are the realistic differences between the different cultivars of Zinnia haageana? "
The Aztec Sunsets have won the FleuroSelect Award, so they have made an impression with knowledgeable gardeners.
https://fleuroselect.com/award...
The Aztec Sunsets are bred to be a short zinnia, so their use would be primarily in landscape beds, and not as cut flowers.
The Jazzy Mix appears to be a re-selected improved Persian Carpet strain.
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/flo...
I suspect that the original Persian Carpet strain several decades ago was as good as Jazzy, maybe better, but seed growers unfortunately usually let zinnia strains "run out" in poorly rogued fields. There might be some other Mexican zinnias that I don't know about that would be competitive with Jazzy. I know there is/was a tetraploid Z. haageana.
A few years ago I grew a few Aztec Sunsets indoors, in an attempt to cross the deep purple color into my genetic mix.
That project failed. Many many decades ago there was a Zinnia elegans variety named Black Ruby, and it was extremely dark. In warm incandescent light it actually did appear to be black. I guess you could say that a Black Zinnia is one of my zinnia breeding goals.
ZM
