3 years ago, I rubbed an orange Cut and Come Again Zinnia with a red one so the orange one would distribute pollen onto the red one. The seeds that came from it were most unusual. They are super-double(like their parents) and color changing. Here is a pic of young to middle-age flowers. Somewhat older flowers show small quantities of blue in the center.
This message was edited Nov 8, 2009 2:03 PM
Daniel,
Continue to save seeds from this cultivar, and as you grow more plants from it, discard the "rogue" plants that don't resemble what you are going for. Once you get a significant amount of reasonably "true" seed, you could contact a seed company like Parks to see if they want to grow it in their trials. I have seen Parks offer a zinnia cultivar from a private individual in their catalog in the past. That particular zinnia cultivar was notable because it was extra tall (over 5 feet). I was disappointed that it didn't appear in this year's catalog.
When you are trying to create a new strain by selection and re-selection, it helps to have a lot of space to grow a lot of zinnias in.
If you have some bigger pictures of your zinnias, we could see them better. Dave's Garden allows your pictures to be up to 1000 pixels wide before they get automatically downsized. To be "on the safe side" I usually post pictures here at 992 pixels wide. This is a closeup of one of my current "breeders" that has an unusual wildly open flower form. I like unusual zinnia flower forms. I plan to grow a lot of progeny from it. Actually, this flower is on an indoor-grown cutting from the original "donor" plant (which amazingly, is still alive outdoors, despite all of our recent cold, clammy Fall weather.) You can increase zinnias asexually by taking cuttings. And you can increase them even more so by using tissue culture to perform micropropagation. I am studying tissue culture right now, and plan to eventually use it in my zinnia breeding hobby.
ZM
Yes, those are nice and worth a second look. I`ll buy them when they come up for sale!
Karen
Thank you Karen!
ZM, so I shoul continue growing this var and removing rogues and then inquire at Parks if they want it? Your micropropagation projects sound interesting! And could you tell me how to take and root cuttings of Zinnias?
~Daniel
P.S. That Zinnia is marvelous!!!
Daniel,
"...so I should continue growing this var and removing rogues and then inquire at Parks if they want it?"
I'm engaged in this zinnia breeding hobby strictly for fun and have no intention, myself, to sell anything, so I'm not really qualified to advise you on how to proceed now. I wouldn't want you to invest years of your time expecting to make money from your zinnia strain, only to have it come to naught. That could happen. I would suggest contacting Parks Seed to see if they are interested and what they advise.
"And could you tell me how to take and root cuttings of Zinnias? "
My techniques for rooting zinnia cuttings were described in some detail in "It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 3" http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=7163669 and on down in that thread. In order to get the picture to become a thumbnail so the text is easier to read, click on the In reply to: It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 3 heading on that page.
The techniques of raising zinnias from cuttings were also discussed in the original "It can be fun to breed your own zinnias" message thread. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/p.php?pid=5855876 Use the same heading click trick there to make the text more readable.
If you have any questions about the process, don't hesitate to ask.
ZM
Thank you ZM! I cannot wait until next June when I can see what happened in the Zinnias DNA...
~Daniel
Daniel,
We are snowed in today!
You may want to read my thoughts on Parks contract and my experience in trying to get a plant introduced.
It was a fun journey. You might enjoy the ride like I did. I found it interesting.
Click on my name here and read my blog here at daves- The datura story.
Karen
I will find it!
Just read it. WOW on the style and the happenings. This will be most useful!!!☺
That is a beautiful zinnia. I love the color combination!
Thank you!
Well, learned something new. I love learning. Did not know I could do cuttings of zinnias. And I love the spider looking zinnias. Have to find some.
Like Cactus ones, but long ans skinny petels>
Daniel,
I also like long skinny petals, and other variations to the zinnia flower form. I like petals that are unusual in some way, like this specimen with "toothy" petals. I used it as a breeder in the hope of getting more "toothy" specimens.
ZM
Gorgeous. Incredible. And most interesting.
Happy New Year and Blue Moon!
~Daniel
