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

Zen_Man wrote:
Lucy,

"Hobbies are for your entertainment, but knowledge will appear along the way."

I agree wholeheartedly. Even without intending so, the plant breeding hobby has been a learning experience for me. I've learned about plant nutrition, DNA, indoor growing, plant growth regulators, etc. It is an ongoing learning experience for me. But the learning is for the purpose of enjoying the hobby, and not learning for learning's sake. My Mother used to say, "Necessity is the mother of invention", and that has proved true for me in this zinnia hobby. For example, I devised "hairnets" to keep the bees from robbing my prized zinnia pollen, and I devised zinnia cages to protect my breeder zinnias from wind damage and disturbance by dogs and other animals. (The flower nets and zinnia cages were discussed in the original Part 1 of this It can be fun to breed your own zinnias message thread: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/929238/ ) By making the learning voluntary, rather than a required chore, it has been enjoyable in its own right.

I am attaching another current picture of one of my bicolored breeders. Some of its pollen was applied to the Aztec Sunset zinnias.

ZM