Hybridizers: It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 5, 1 by Zen_Man

Zen_Man wrote:
Hi Garak/Martin,

Yes, lupines are biennials. That would limit you to one generation per year. Snapdragons are annuals that prefer cool weather, and I think there is room to breed them. They have a complete color range (also lacking true blue), but mutations have made several variations on their flower form available. And their plant habit varies quite a lot as well. And the individual blooms can have one color or two colors and possibly even more. Digitalis can be quite attractive, although I think it is also a biennial or possibly a short-lived perennial. Searching for a good breeding subject in the cool weather category can be a bit challenging.

" Have you ever tried to get stable forms of your crossings? "

I have and I am currently working to stabilize some forms. Theoretically you can get a zinnia stable in about 5 generations of inbreeding. And theoretically you could grow that many generations in a year if you combined indoors and outdoors culture. (My second generation seedlings of my indoors zinnias are growing now and I am on track to be planting a third generation indoors before Spring.)

The funny thing about stabilizing a particular zinnia is that, each generation, you see slightly improved versions (and sometimes more than slightly improved versions) of what you are trying to stabilize, and it is impossible for me to avoid the temptation of using those slightly or more than slightly improved forms. And that continues. Each generation of "stabilization" becomes instead a generation of incremental improvement. I don't know where that process stops, or even if it stops.

I have several ongoing zinnia projects and, this Spring, I will add yet another one -- namely simply larger zinnia flowers. Without trying, I have several zinnias in the six-inch diameter size range every year, so now I will start selecting (and intercrossing) the largest specimens as the basis for this project. I have had a couple of zinnias in excess of 7 inches across in past years, and I have seen catalog descriptions of 8 inches across, so I think that is possible. I am curious how far that project can go. Some Dahlias are over a foot across. I am hoping that a mutation will break the 8-inch barrier for zinnias. And crossing weird stuff together can induce mutations. Fortunately, I have some weird stuff in my zinnias.

ZM