Viewing post #918492 by davidsevit

ZenMan said:Hi David,

" three years ago with our family visiting Bulgaria I saw some zinnias about 1.5 meters tall in a courtyard of a monastery. "

I like to say that here in the "States" that we are still "inching toward the metric system." I guess we won't be close to full adoption until we can say that "we are centimetering toward the metric system."

So, about those tall zinnias. A meter is about 39 inches, so you saw zinnias that were about 59 inches tall. That is pretty close to 5 feet tall. I have grown many zinnias that were taller than that from commercial varieties, like Giant Cactus Flowered, Giants of California, and Benary's Giants. Just plant them a little close together and give them lots of soluble nutrients and they can grow 6 feet high (about 1.8 meters) and still look good.

How high can zinnias grow? The Guinness World Records 2008 book https://books.google.com/books... lists the record highest zinnia in 2004 as 12 ft 6 in, or in the metric system 3.81 meters. I am not sure, but I think that record has been broken since then. But, in any case, zinnias can grow much taller than those you saw in Bulgaria.

" if i go back to the seeds in packets again story i would rather travel back to the monastery to pick up some seeds.... "

My recommendation would be to do a thorough search for online sources of zinnia seeds in Israel. Benary's Giants and/or Giants of California would be candidate tall varieties. I personally don't mind if zinnias grow tall, and I avoid short zinnias, but my primary interest is the blooms themselves.

ZM

i propogated the zinnias this morning...there where some flowerheads that where in a more advanced process.those i did not touch.so now for how long to wait for changes and do you think i can still sow this year?
by the way i took from yellow male and touched purple female and took from purple male and touched yellow female....
i actually pinched the male with the tweezers is it not agresive for the plant?
i did not feel confident with the paint brush...a feeling that the material would not transfer.
the females are very fuzzy
my dahlias are blooming now......they where sown at the same time as the zinnias....is there any similarity in the propogation system between the dahlias and zinnias?