Hybridizers: It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 6, 4 by Zen_Man

Zen_Man wrote:
Hi Brenda,

My culling is a little more ruthless. If the first bloom looks like it is in the 90% part of Sturgeon's Law, I pull the plant or, if it is too close to a nearby plant, I snip it off at ground level with a hand pruner.

And, if I really like a bloom, I may be tempted to remove it to encourage the plant to branch and produce more of them.

But I am not recommending those strategies to you. You are doing just fine, and you are already in the zone of working with exotic new zinnias that are far beyond the reach of commercial sources. And now my comments on my attached photos.

#1 is an exotic with an interesting white effect near the center. The petals come in white and then change color as they develop. I like that effect, and will be going for more of it in future recombinants.

#2 has interesting three-pronged petal ends and delicately corrugated petal texture. I suspect it has Razzle Dazzle genes contributing the three-pronged effect. Some of its petals also have "tendrils" or "antennae", which are long narrow curved fingers. I kind of like them.

#3 is a variation on the Razzle Dazzle flower form, in which the individual florets overlap more and have a more toothy floret ending.

#4 seems to be a modification of the fantasy flower form, with slightly more delicate petals and a pale yellow suffused white color scheme. It is a recombinant, but I am not sure of its heritage.

#5 seems to be a modification of the exotic flower form (tubular petals with star-tipped ends) and the modification may be due to Razzle Dazzle genes.

I am encouraged that new variations are appearing in my recombinant zinnias. I plan to back-cross them to selected Benary's Giants, Giants of California, and Burpeeana Giants. More later. More things to do in my zinnia patch.

ZM


This message was edited Aug 1, 2015 11:53 AM

This message was edited Aug 1, 2015 11:59 AM