Zinna time!

Ah! Buenos dias y hola ana! My espanol es muy mal! No habla mucho!

Will have to pay your link a visit just to savor the photos!

Yano, now that is one webpage that I wish I had smell-o-vision!

Ana, MUCHO BUENO!

¡Hola!¡Qué amables!
Gracias. Thanks.
I have now finish my album Picassa and I didn´t took the tittle of the photos. I can make many albums with all my flowers, not only zinnias.
You must konw that I have saved a lot of seeds this year: from zinnias and many other annuals.
Kiss, Ana

Thank you everbody!

Mamina,WOW! Amazing pix! I wish I could be that good. I especially like the bicolors and the magenta one that is a superdouble.


Here is a rather unuasual bicolor that popped up in the species swath.

Her pix were amazing! I love the candy stripes and the whites! All the color! Not fussy on colors! This is one flower that has it all.

I had some "coneheaded doubles in that group that I lost and was starting to get some tricolored stripes. Makes me sick to think about the loss! Be neat to get a red white and blue striped thing in a cross.

But well, starting over.. new plot new seed...look forward to the show again.

I love that one Ana has that looks almost like a tricolored sunflower! That is awesome!

I want any color and any size, shape and color! And the plot I got worked up is about 50x50... so well, depending on what I get going will be how much of that bed I fill. Just for the butterflies and the show they will make in the garden!

Hello,
This is a wonderfull day, 23ºC and sunny. I must pick pansies, senecio cruentus, dianthus barbatus, penstemon...and care streptocarpus...etc. Also I have sow gloxinias.
And, like usually, I need some substrate sacs.
Zinnias are nice: I will start in frebuary wit them. The "carrousel" serie (tricolors, also knowed al Whyrligig); the "flor de dalia" serie (doubles and geants); the "persian carpet"; the "linearis" and "profussion" are my favourites. White are "neccesary" for mix borders. Polar star series is good . I don´t know "flor de cactus" in my garden for the moment, neither "scabiosa flower".
These zinnias bicolors you show are very rare and also those of hairy petals.
I have not a high garden for all zinnias I´ll want , many talls and ramified. So, I will start to grow them in my family house garden, most sandly and easy for working. But it is 50 kms far to my home. Well, it is only a project, perhaps when I were retired.
Yesterday I harvest the last zinnia seeds: cerisse red, gorgeus (left one in the picture, with fly).

The americans laws for importing seeds are very restrictive. I can try send you if want.
Very good weekend an fine gardening,
Ana

Here's a photo I took this morning of a new zinnia grown from seed named "Zahara Rose Starlight". It grows to about 12" in height. I'm a little bit disappointed with it as it is supposed to have a rose colored halo around the center and I haven't seen it on too many blooms. I decided to just let it grow and do its thing.

Jon

Awesome!

Gorgeous colors mamina! I have ordered some Apricot Profusion and Uproar Rose seeds to start in the Spring. May try a few seeds saved from the Dreamland Rose ones to see how true them come back. Looking forward to warmer weather already.

Susan

Profusion zinnias are quite popular in South Florida because of their mildew resistance. I grew these "Profusion Double Golden" zinnias from seed and here's what they're looking like today. Uproar Rose is an excellent choice. I had some this summer and they're a real nice color.

Jon

This is true, Jon. Zinnias profusion are hard. I had only one of "mango" color, in pot, and it is now flowered, but not like yours.
I love also zinnia linearis. I look it very delicate and with very beatiful shades in petals. It was difficult for me to make germ its seeds, five o six in the packet order.
This is the picture of linearis with gazania, also from seed:

Nice photo. There are only 6 "Profusion Double Golden" zinnia plants in my photo. I have grown gazanias from seed also but not in the past 2 years. I do remember they are easy to grow from seed and grow quickly.

Yes, zinnias are easy for growing, but with z. linearis I had any problem, I don´t know the reason. It seems a little peculiar, with long and hard leaves. It is already flowered. I have saved many seeds and shall look for new colors.

That pic of the Gazania and Z. linearis is just wonderful!

Hello,
Today I upload Z. linnearis seeds picture. You see they are very little:

The last trhee Z. profusion "mango" :

Its seeds are also littles, but higher than linearis. In the photo, whit two Z. elegans seeds:
My zinnias expired for this year. Bay bay.

Nice. It's hard to keep up with all the new varieties of Profusion zinnias. It seems like most of the new ones now are double profusion zinnias or the profusion knee high zinnias.

Mamina,

That picture is very helpful. Those are very small seeds, as zinnias go. Apparently the taxonomists now refer to Z. linearis as Z. angustifolia (which means narrow leaf zinnia). That means that your Zinnia linearis is the same species as other Z. angustifolias, which include Star White or Crystal White and Star Yellow. It might be possible to make crosses between the "Stars" and your "Linearis". They would most likely all have the narrow leaves.

However, the Crystal White and Star White and Star Yellow seeds are now hard to find, because they have been mostly replaced by the Z. marylandica Profusions and Zaharas. Incidentally, the Angustifolias (22 chromosomes) were used to produce the new species, Z. marylandica, by crossing them with selected specimens from the 24-chromosome Z. violacea (also widely known as Z. elegans). Those 23-chromosome hybrids were sterile, because odd numbered chromosomes are usually sterile. But they were made into true breeding Profusions and Zaharas by doubling their chromosome number to 46, with the aid of colchicine.

So your Z. linearis is, in a sense, a predecessor to the popular Profusions and Zaharas zinnias.

ZM

Mamina,

All your pictures are absolutely GORGEOUS!!

Hello, ZM,. You are superior knowledges about zinnia genetic. Thanks for reponse.
I could read the very interesting change of experiences betwen you and Tropicman. If my english were most fuid, I coud learn a lot of concepts in this forum and links.
I can understand the genetics basis, most in humans than in plants. Botanic is a wonderfull world. Six years ago, I studied for fun the fuchsia pollen and the microscopic development of little embryos. I grew zinnias this year for ornamental reasons only, but I am discovering an interesting matter whit asteraceae.
Well, I am very dangerous when I try to explaining...so bad.
A question: Do you know when a kind of fuchsia is geneticament stable before crossing it?
Many thanks again for your words.
Kiss, Ana

Ana,

I'm sorry to say that I don't know anything about fuchsias, except that they are very pretty and come in some remarkable hybrid cultivars. I am pretty sure you can grow them from cuttings. The book, "Breeding New Plants and Flowers" by Charles W. Welch has a section on breeding fuchsias.

http://www.amazon.com/Breeding-Plants-Flowers-Charles-Welch/dp/1861265492/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257293989&sr=1-1

There are also several books dedicated to fuchsias, which you can find by doing a title search.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=sr_adv_b/?search-alias=stripbooks&unfiltered=1&field-keywords=&field-author=&field-title=fuchsia&field-isbn=&field-publisher=&node=&url=&field-feature_browse-bin=&field-binding_browse-bin=&field-subject=&field-language=&field-dateop=&field-datemod=&field-dateyear=&sort=relevancerank&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.x=17&Adv-Srch-Books-Submit.y=7

ZM

Here's a stumper. Does anyone know of a book about Zinnias? I am one of their most loyal growers and would like to see a book about them.

DASIYS,
Maybe its time for you to write one!

Me?!?!

Sure why not! Its a dirty job, but someone has to do it! Go for it!

Hello alls,
ZM, thanks for your very interesting links.
Beeing the garden and flowers only a hobby for me, I cannot make very hard studies about a particular plant. I am so aged for the job and garden, both. Some years ago, I studied fuchsias with the same method that I study human tissues and cells in my work. Now, it seems that the time es shortest and I am happy for gardening beatifull and coloured flowers from seed.
After fuchsias, I was interested in scrophulariaceae, some apartement orchids and now, some easy gesneriads, always for fun.
Nevertheless, I feel curiosity for looking the microscopic appereance of the different types of compositaceae pollen and compare them with the google images. Maybe the next summer I´ll try it.
All you are very good gardeners and I feel happy with your experiences.
Kiss, Ana

YAY!! They came DASIYS! They came!! WHoohoo!

Ok, now I have (Some where hard to read, but does not matter they will be getting mixed up in the plot!:

orange/red peppermint
redbow (?)
Cut and Come again
orange red and pink tricolor
Fruit smoothie

Plus the ones i mentioned above and a few more. Still looking for more and hoping to trade again with anyone that has some!

Not redbow. I call it rainbow, Rainbow Hybrid, and Rainbow Cut and Come Again hybrid(since those were its parents). I have this one here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1054097/

LOL!! Well that was my first guess! But I cant spell sssomedays either!

Oh yea and one other... Oklahoma salmon

I know that you will like OK. Salmon as it was the only Zinnia that I didn't get a pic of this year, and the most beautiful flower always elude the camera! LOL!

Well, now your making me think I should not mix them all up and I should put a few of them in seperate containers before I let the cross over!

Im still searching for seeds though.. What I have total, does not look to be like it will be enough for the plot. It looks Like to be for a fifty foot row though! :>)

Can't wait until you have pix of your " zinnia plantation"!

Well,

www.wildseedfarms.com

got the seeds by the lb.! I might break down and put in an order...it would take 10 lbs of seed to cover an acre...1lb covers around 4300 square feet.

Well, I am encourabable when it comes to taking photos!

Says I could plant in the spring.. so that sounnds like a good plan...its either that or I order sunflowers...

Ok,

www.VermontBean.com

has WHIRLIGIG!! WHooooooHOOO!

That's a nice mixture of colors Blossom. I've grown "Zowie Yellow Flame" before. It's similar to the yellow/red one in that combination. I found one zinnia I've been looking months for (Zinnia Queen Red Lime) and sewed some of the seeds last week. Hope it grows true to color...but I have my doubts.

Jon

Yes, Jon, Vermont Bean also had the Zowie you mentioned!

I also saw Zahara Starlight Rose, now thats a good looking zin if I ever saw one!

Here's a picture of my "Zahara Rose Starlight" zinnias growing outside in the front yard. It's a great grower and bloomer, but I'm disappointed with the coloration. Almost all of the blooms are solid white. I've had very few blooms that look like the blooms you see online, and in catalogs.

Jon

I do like this one though. It's zinnia "Tequila Lime".

BLOSSOMBUDDY, I found a pic of the Oklahoma Salmon!