Annuals: Basic Zinnias 101, 1 by tabasco

tabasco wrote:
Hi, again, BD and zinnia-philes,

This thread has really had a lot of posts since I signed off last night! Who knew zinnias were so interesting? I have a bit more from my zinnia notes to add in, if you can stand it:

BD--Please don't get twisted knickers about the nice BBG article on zinnias. The author, Claire Hagen Dole, is a butterfly gardener, not a zinnia hybridizer and his writing is pretty straight forward and he may have glossed over some of the fine points of zinnia terminology. Nice article though, and I've had many monarchs visiting my 'benary giants' this week.

'Oklahoma' is a zinnia hybridized by Ernst Benary especially for cut flowers . It is a pompon style. http://www.benary.com/index.cfm/addin/plants/startid/166/art...
Oklahoma is available in separate colors from a few suppliers.

'State Fair' is one of the first, if not the first autotetraploid (? from my notes) cultivar zinnia almost exclusively offered in a mix that has largely been replaced by more modern offerings. I can't recall who hybridized it (I think Burpee Co.) or much more about it right now...

I have heard 'blue point' called a 'premium strain' of 'benary giants' especially nice ones meant for the cut flower trade. And, yes, they appear to be working feverishly to reduce the summer mildew and disease in zinnias. The 'Benary Giant' was a breakthrough on this and W. Atlee Burpee was instrumental in mildew resistance on others, too, and thus made the zinnia much more attractive to everyone in the states some years ago.

And don't forget the power of fashion and fads, even in flower gardening and flower arrangements-- flowers go in and out of style (along with clothes) and some of this buzz is created by the big hort companies, of course, (for instance the sunflower fad, a few years ago) for the flowers like the zinnia that they are hybridizing. The zinnia is on the ascent of the popularity curve, so I would look for more coverage and better explanations of it in the next few years.

I have not grown enough zinnias to really know, but after researching I would venture about your joke--if the zinnias in the garden were F-1, then I believe, yes, the experts would be able to tell the differences quite easily. Goldsmiths, Burpee, Benary and two Japanese companies, Takii and Sakaro (sp?) are the big zinnia hybridizers, past and present.

According to one article in a commercial horticulture magazine most big hybridizers (Goldsmith's, Burpee/Ball, Benary) and seed companies (Jelitto) create product and produce for the 'plug' (tiny plants in trays) green material market. So commercial hybridizers are looking to produce hort products that are consistent in form and color, fulfil expectations, no mildew and good disease resistance, are economical to grow--low fertilizer, more flowers per square foot of growing space-- have a long bloom life in the garden, a long vase life, small plant with lots of flowers, etc. It's not much about 'looks' and 'charm' really.

Maybe not especially high on the commercial priority list is the 'charm' of the flower or the subtlety of it, because this won't sell to the landscaping industry. Home gardeners' benefits and special needs for our gardens are last on their priority list, if appearing at all on it. We get the fall-out from the big guys. I guess I didn't really realize this before.

I was thinking about your earlier comparison of the passion for the zinnia to the passion for the tomato last night. Of course, following on, there is so much interest in hybridizing the different tomato varieties because of the needs of the ketchup and canned tomato producers and of course, everyone likes a tomato in their salad or sandwich. So there is huge commercial interest in hybridizing (for instance the 'square tomato' that will fit in a crate) and the home gardener gets some of the benefit of having all those labs working on good tomato crosses, etc. (Heintz catsup, Penn State and Burpee, all together in Pennsylvania, no coincidence, I bet) Again, they are not necessarily working on what the lowly homemaker would like, but it all creates a 'buzz' about the tomato. W. Atlee Burpee came up with the 'Big Boy' which is in the parentage of many of the popular tomatoes available today.

Anyway, hort commerce is what I think drives the markets and choices for the home gardener. (The 'state fair' zinnia has been superceded by better tetras and so it's not worth trying to separate out the 'State Fair' colors. Hort commerce has moved on...thus state fair is still available in a 'mix' for heritage gardeners, but not worth more effort. (My guess))

Your musings about the different z. 'mixes' and 'blends' and if they are proprietary concoctions or something made from nature or a cultivar that is so variable that it can't be pinned down to color and form is interesting. I think if MM and others don't know, we would have to have a rep from a big seed company like Jelittos or Burpee explain how and who comes up with the 'mixes' and blends and if they are simply decorative, like the 'Cool Crayon Colors' offered by Renee's or if they are cultivar mixes like the Whirlygigs may be.

I wish we had a seed company rep who would chime in on some of this. Maybe I'll call Burpee and ask.

So the above is a re-cap of some of my googling and thinking about these perplexing zinnies. Now I have to get going -- Lots of my zinnias are beginning to bloom and I am rogue-ing out all the inferiors! (Just kidding. Everyone one of my zinnias is special to me--even the ones fraught with mildew!) Sorry I went on so long....nothing like beating a dead horse!

Happy gardening today.