Hi Kayleigh,
I did not do any work on my crested centered zinnias this year, but I retained my seed stocks, and will return to working with them next year. Zinnia seeds keep for years. This year I focused on my Razzle Dazzles, Woolies, and groundwork for Extreme Uprolls. This is the sole parent for the Extreme Uprolls, which appeared as sort of a mutant in my indoor zinnias last Winter. Incidentally, another zinnia hobbyist has had a strain very similar to this for several years, and I hope she will have the opportunity to sell hers to a seed company. She is several years ahead of me on this, and has Extreme Uprolls in a variety of colors.
This is another bloom on the plant.
And another bloom on the plant.
It had essentially no pollen, so I was forced to cross it with other indoor zinnias in order to get a seed supply from it. Its F1 hybrids are various, but none have the Extreme Uproll flower form, although one specimen has longish petals that are a little upturned. I am hoping and expecting to recover the Extreme Uproll flower form in the F2 progeny from the F1s. I will grow some of those progeny indoors this Winter, and give special attention to any that have the desired new flower form.
Next Spring I will make a significant planting of all of the new zinnia forms that I am working with. And I will have the opportunity to cross the Extreme Uprolls with other forms to obtain potentially new forms derived from those hybridizations.
In past years I had several different versions of the crested zinnias, all derived from various crosses involving the scabiosa flowered zinnias, and I plan to continue developing them. One crested form in particular pleased me, because it reminded me of a waterlily.
Its guard petals were monstrous. I want to produce a fully developed strain like that specimen, in all zinnia colors, with still larger bloom size on an improved plant.
I don't sell zinnia seeds, nor do I intend to market them myself. At some future time when I have fully perfected new strains and a significant seed stock of them, I would be open to negotiating with a seed company to sell seed stock to them for eventual introduction by them to the marketplace.
Breeding zinnias is just a fun hobby for me, but I have surprised myself with my successes, and feel that several of them should be shared with the public through commercial introductions. I am not equipped to do that myself. But it wouldn't be a good idea for me to share seeds informally prior to negotiating with a seed company.
I do recommend amateur zinnia breeding as a fun hobby. Zinnias are full of surprises.
ZM
