Hybridizers: It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 2, 1 by Zen_Man

Zen_Man wrote:
Hello all,

As the original "It can be fun to breed your own zinnias" message thread approached 100 messages, it was probably getting slow to load for some participants, particularly for any readers with dial-up connections. So we are continuing that message thread here. You can access the original thread through this link: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/929238/

As I have mentioned previously, many of my zinnia crosses include the use of the Scabiosa Flowered zinnias, because their central florets are colored, rather than the usual fuzzy yellow stars. It is my hope to emphasize those petal-colored florets by making them larger -- much larger -- so that they can become the main part of the flower, or even the entire flower. I haven't achieved that objective yet, but this picture of an opening hybrid zinnia from last year can give you some idea of the role that I want those big florets to play.

MM