Zinnia seed

Does anyone know if I collect seed from profusion zinnia plants , will it come back the same?

It looks like park seed and a few other companies offer the seeds, so I would say yes

http://parkseed.com/profusion-sunrise-mix-zinnia-seeds/p/51986-PK-P1/

The link says they are hybrids so saved seeds will most likely not come true. ie they won't look the parent plants that you have now.

I have had zinnias for several years now and I've never gotten them to volunteer even though they are never deadheaded. I mostly had the profusion variety. I was beginning to wonder if they were sterile. If you can get them to sprout, they may not come true, especially if you have multiple colors in close proximity.

thanks I think I will save some seed and try to sprout it in a container in the spring...so I can wach and see if anything comes up

Sounds like a good plan. You should give us an update with what comes up.

Hybrid seeds are the result to two different varieties being crossed to form a new variety. The seed from this hybrid will not be like its parents; it will be more like its grandparents. The other problem with hybrid seeds is they are often sterile.

Growing anything from seed, hybrid or heirloom, is always fun because the seed will display the genes from both parents in its own individual way. Think about you and your spouse and your children. You are all Homo sapiens and you have similar characteristics that make you Homo sapiens. But you all look a little different.

Daisy

I think you mean open pollinated not heirloom. OP is the way it reproduce heirloom is the story behind it and how many years it's been around. Some great sources for OP zinnia seeds, and other OP varieties are www.rareseeds.com and www.wildseedfarms.com. The seeds come true if I don't let them mix. They do reseed here but that might be bc our winters are warmer.

OPs are inbreed for many generations I hope thats not true for most people. Lol

thank you everyone for the help

Yes, you are right. I did mean OP. Yes, even people but not like you are thinking. Look up "most recent common ancestor". 8')

My point was about genetic diversity within a genus.

Daisy

That's one of the arguments against OPs is lack of Genetic Diversity, no new genes in the gene pool, so no hybrid vigor. They are inbreed again and again until they become stable. Then you might have a spontaneous mutation ever so often.