Will basically all zinnia make seed in ample time?

Some zinnia show no signs of pollen as in the first two photos here. The first photo has three zinnia that are beginning to dry. My concern is, that if I save seed from them, once they have dried, the seed will not germinate next year when planted? Does anyone know? Am I wasting my time saving their seed? The third zinnia here (orange), has lots of pollen and no doubt will produce suitable seed to save if left until it dries (there are lots of insects). Then I have another question about the 4th zinnia here (not the best specimen, but the picture should get my point across). If I save seed from this one, will the offspring basically look like this? Any thoughts..................

Thanks in advance.

Brenda,
They usually do set seeds but don't count on them beign the same as the parent. They are hybrids and since you ae growing different varieties, they will cross pollinate. Some may take after the parent, other may not. You have nothing to lose, but do buy seeds incase....Most stores carrey zinnia seeds, including Walmat.

Hi Brenda,

Lilly (blomma) is correct in saying that zinnias usually set seeds, but the offspring may not be the same as the parent.

It is a single zinnia with a tall central cone that has produced a series of pollen florets. There will be a lot of floret seeds in that cone. Most of its offspring will probably also be single with tall cones, although there may be several different but similar colors.

Incidentally, there are two basic kinds of zinnia seeds: the petal seeds are attached to the petals and the floret seeds were once attached to the pollen florets. The florets themselves have usually disintegrated by the time you are shucking the seeds, but some of the petal seeds may still be attached to petals.

There is a rare third kind of zinnia seed that is attached to a petalloid, an unusual zinnia floral part roughly intermediate between a petal and a floret. Floret seeds are almost always selfed, while petal seeds may be cross-pollinated or selfed. I frequently package my floret seeds separately from my petal seeds because of that difference.

I am not a fan of single zinnias, and I probably wouldn't save seeds from your 4th specimen. That's not to say that all single zinnias are bad. I have seen some single zinnias that looked quite good as landscaping plants, and had flowers that were reminiscent of daisies. But I have a personal preference for double zinnias, so I usually cull and discard my single zinnias. If a single has some unique characteristic, I will save seeds from it, and even cross it with other zinnias.

I am also going to respond to your message over in the Annuals forum. By saving seeds from selected zinnias, you are in effect breeding your own zinnias, and your past pictures indicate that you have been having fun doing it. As far as I know, we two may be the only gardeners here on Dave's garden actually trying to breed our own zinnias.

ZM

ZM

Great response. You have been so informative on one of my favorite garden passions (the ZINNIA). Such encouragement - as I will continue to save the no pollen zinnia and scrumage through the 2013 shucked seed head to see if in fact there are any good seed. I am assuming good seed would be a seed that has a little more weight/texture than being just flat and wrinkled (empty?). Now - you have made me anxious to go check on the ones I have in my saved stash for 2014.

I'm imagining how many packets of zinnia seed you must be saving. Whereas, I usually lump mine all together for planting in long rows. Sometimes I have kept the cactus zinnia seed separate and a time or two I kept colors separate. You are so intense with your seed saving - saving 3 types of seed from one withered flower head - WOW! Obviously you have studied these zinnia for a LONG time.

I so appreciate you sharing your knowledge and just maybe we can pull out a few more people that are trying to breed their own zinnias.

Brenda

You guys...(guy and girls) got my attention. I've saved Zinnia seeds for the first time this year and am excited to see what pops up in 2014. Thanks for all the great information.

Robin

Welcome to the party, Robin. I think we all are excited to see what pops up in your garden in 2014. Zinnias can be full of surprises. Hopefully you will post many pictures from your zinnia garden. This is a picture of a white zinnia that I had this year that I liked. And a picture of my zinnia garden, taken this year, last Spring.

ZM

I don't think my eyes have ever been graced with a white Zinnia...its fab. Man ZM, what a garden...you're a Zinnia pro! I'll be sure to post pictures, albeit humble in comparison.

Zen_Man - Once again I have my zinnia bed going. How are your zinnia doing??? My main crop is in my Wetland Garden and these were not planted until July 10th this year because the area was too wet until almost mid July. But I am glad to report that they are doing wonderful, and if it were dry under foot there now, I would be out tagging the zinnia that I (for sure) want to save seed from for 2015. Unless we get high wind or heavy rains, these zinnia should be beautiful through Mid October. Later, Maybe I can share some up close photos to the best of the best.

I saw this and rather than a new thread , I thought I would post here ,
Three variations in zinnia seeds

The seeds to the left , the little seed on the ball at the bottom of the arrowhead ,

Bottom center suprises me , these seeds are nearly like Sunflower seeds , hard coated ,,

The greenish to the right , I have grown these for years .

No real point here , only a Zinnia thing , all different from local store purchased seeds , maybe because their fresh ?

This message was edited Nov 14, 2014 3:59 AM

I need your all's advice as zinnia gurus! This (2015) will be my first year trying to grow zinnias. . . plus I'm kinda a newbee gardener.

my direct-sow (May 1) is Zahara Starlight Rose (Z. marylandica), compact habit and 12 - 18" both in height and width. It is going in a flower bed of 17.29 square feet. How many visibly viable seed will I need to cover this area? How do I stagger planting about every 2 weeks until early July?

My indoor sow into biodegradable peat pots (mid to late March) is Magellan Yellow (Z. elegans, a dwarf), compact habit, 12- 14 in tall and wide. It is going in to a different flower bed of 24.27 square feet. Same Questions

Both come from Park Seed, but the needed info was not on their web page; I was on hold for 22 minutes and FINALLY got a live person. . . who told me I had to speak to their Horticulturalist, who was not there!!

I've unsuccessfully spent several hours searching the Web for some indication, some guidelines to roughly answer. . .
HELP!!

Zinnias are very smart to start with: they aren't very fussy or tricky. And they are cheerfullest flowers of all!

I only sow one wave of Zinnias, planted out after all risk of frost. For some reason I got the idea they prefer warmth and won't grow when it's too cold.

Whatever, the plants last fine through my whole summer and into the fall. They seem to be killed by the rain and cold, not old age.

It sounds like you can space them around 12-18" apart. I tend to crowd mine, wishing for longer unbranched stems, but I don't get my wish. I mostly grow TALL Zinnias, say waist-high to chest-high.

Using math, not experience, you might want up to 18 plants in one bed, and up to 25 in the other. Or fewer plants with more root space: 10 plants in one bed and 15 in the other.

But I would start at least 60 seedlings of each one. Keep the best third. Kill the worst third. Give away the middle third.

If you're new to seed starting, start lots more than just 2-3 times what you want to plant out. Half might fail to germinate or die before you can pot them up. Direst-sown seed is often sown three times thicker than you need. Some will die and some will need to be thinned out.

Park seeds are almost my least favorite seed vendor. You might use other company's web sites to find planting information. Botanical Interests, Johnnys Seeds and Territorial Seeds are my favorites for information.

Here are some of my favorite flower seed vendors:
http://www.botanicalinterests.com/flower-seeds
http://www.seedsite.eu/
http://www.rareseeds.com/store/
http://www.reneesgarden.com/seeds/order.html


These are mostly vegetable seed vendors, but these link to their flower-seed departments.
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/c-2-flowers.aspx
http://www.territorialseed.com/category/flower_seed
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds/?cat=Flowers

I grow the tall zinnia. But I have heard good reviews on the more compact. Sowing zinnia for me is a direct sow. I don't even thin them. They do so well for me that way, there is no setbacks for them to reestablish. Usually I'll direct sow in row(s) very soon after all danger of frost has passed (that being mid April here). Next I'll sow more in another garden maybe a month later (mid May for me). Then I will sow more elsewhere, as soon after June 1 as the ground will work for the area where I am planting them. By late August my first planting is looking pretty scrappy and I may do away with it. The other two plantings are o.k., especially the June or later planting.

The zinnia in the photo here were planted July 10 (late for me), and the photo was taken October 24th this year. The frost killed them in early November. In this bed, I had 2 rows well over 300 feet long. The rows were planted about 30-36 inches apart and by the end of the growing season, the two rows of zinnia had grown together. I like to marvel in the zinnia. Zinnia is a GREAT flower to practice on. They are very forgiving and beautiful.

Thank you for the info! It's good to know some rough guidelines.

Out of 60 seedlings, REALLY keep 20, kill 20 and give away 20??? My neighbors will make short work of 20 giveaway seedlings....my block will have zinnias EVERYWHERE, specially if I give away some of those marked for death!

I agree about Park Seed and not just because of the excessive hold etc. While holding, their recordings revealed their affiliated companies; I had a very poor experience with one of them last year and resolved to NEVER do business with them again - or any company they are affiliated with! I wish I had known Park Seed's affiliations BEFORE I bought the seed.

Oh, well. Live and learn!!

Well, a breeder would say the most important thing is to only breed from the best third of the herd.

I agree that it's easy to "saturate" your immediate neighborhood unless you have other "seed head" enthusiasts nearby. I hate giving away plants and then realizing that they were never planted out or potted up.

But you can give away unlimited numbers of seedlings at charity events, or at over-55 manufactured home parks.

Nursing homes or retirement probably would accept plants in medium size pots, or cut flowers, more than planting stock. With prior arrangements, they might appreciate a batch of small seedlings, and pot them up themselves, as an exercise for the residents.

I was really disappointed with the germination rate of the zinnia seed I collected from my plants last year. It was my first attempt at growing them from my own seeds, only my second year growing them. Most of the ones that came up were from purchased seed and not much luck with the ones I collected. Next year I plan on seriously overplanting and then thinning. If I don't get enough germination next year I will certainly not bother to collect seed again. I really liked the ones I had last year, so lovely.

I will say the same thing about Park Seeds because I ordered some Bok Choy seeds and I had very poor germination results . I sent my an Email about my experience hoping they will send me a replacement . Yes they acknowledge my email ,that was it.I let one plant go to seeds and I am having 100 percentage germination. In fact I just sowed some seeds and everyone germinated .I will never order seeds from them again.

Don't give up on seedsaving - It is certainly a GOOD THING. Talk about economical and then knowing what you are getting in return. When I save my zinnia seed, I mark them for harvest - at a much later date. My problem this year was not seed, it was all the rains. Zinnia's are pretty tough. I have an area of zinnia that have been flooded by water at least 4 times and they have struggled, but they are coming along nicely.

Here is one of my saved seed zinnia from last year, and it will be a saved seed zinnia, again this year. Can't wait to see the results of that one next year.

I save some of the small zinnia seeds ,one plant is short with tiny flowers and one is tall but the flowers are at a bit bigger compared with my larger zinnias.

I save a lot of seed. In fact I even sell some of my more unusual plant seeds. I have a bee hive, so I get good pollination. I'm glad to hear zinnias can be good re-seeders. It's been such weird weather here this year I blame alot on that. We had a cool spring and then a dry hot summer, my plants are completely confused. Some think it's spring now just because we finally got some warmth and of course I'm watering.

I don't exactly think of zinnia as re-seeders. I think of a re-seeder as something that just falls to the ground on its own and comes up when the time is right. Occasionally I find a zinnia that does that, but not very often. I always harvest my zinnia seed (the ones I REALLY like) and take them in for the winter, then bring them out, and as the weather warms and it is suitable, I plant. Then sometimes I plant more somewhere else and then more somewhere else. Love those zinnia! Then- too - as it was mentioned above by someone else - I like to overseed. Even when I overseed, I seldom go back and thin my overseeding if I get a bumper crop. When my zinnia are not performing like I want them to, I take my scissors and cut off the ugly ones, in hopes they will produce more - pretty ones.

I agree, I'm bringing in the seed for spring planting. I just hope next year is better than this year, it was a real disappointment as far as the zinnias went. I did have a wonderful crop of papaver somniferon, I'll do more of those next year, what charmers, and the seed pods are great in a vase.