zinnia

how do you collect zinnia seed and when?

What I do is when the flower begins to "fade" I cut them and let them dry in the sun. When they dry I pull the large petals and clip the seeds at the bottom. I then put them in a small PAPER BAG (I get them at my local hardware store) mark the bag with the color and size and year.

thanks for the help. I got these seeds at the SE Gardenshow. I am a novice gardener & I really would like to have them again next year.

Hey Pat!

LittleShima, Pat is my MIL. She posted the question on my computer, but now she's a subscriber herself! Yay!

I tried to save zinnia seeds last year and I think what I have is an envelope full of chaff/dried petals! Can anyone describe or better yet share a picture of zinnia seeds?

Here are some Zinnia seeds. The photo shows he seeds at the end of the petal and also what they lok like after removing the dried petal. They look like little arrow heads to me.

Thank you! That's very helpful -- I think I have some seeds amongst the petals! Will try to germinate them next year ...

I came on this site just for these questions - I saw the pics, but on my dried flowers I came up with everything else but the little arrow - is it supposed to be hard or flat - because they're all flat and I can just blow them away, that's how lightweight they are- they look the same as the pics above except for the pointy. HELP - do I have the right stuff.

The 'arrow' or seed is in the lump or head of the flower. In there where the pollen used to be. If you've pulled all the dried petals off then you might have just yanked them off of the head and left the seeds in there together. If you take that apart and there aren't any then I guess it didn't pollenate, but that is very very unusual for zinnia. They are prolific seed makers.

The first time I tried to save zinnia seed, I pulled off all the dead/dying petals, not realising I was pulling out all the seeds, too - they are firmly attached to the end of the petal.
I find that when the petals are nice and dried and brown, the seeds are ready, and zinnia are extremely easy to germinate from seed - I just go along and plonk them in the dirt in the spring - sow and forget!

Besides the large seed at the end of the patals there are other seeds in the zinnia. After taking the large ones you can find the other seed inside where the white chaff is. They are a little darker and have more substance than the chaff.
If you are not careful, finches do steal the zinnia seed. They can pick them clean including the ones on the inside of the flower.
What you can do is to wait until the flower fades and cover the seed head (spent flower) with a piece of pantyhose material and secure it near the base with a twist tie. This will keep the finches from stealing the seeds.
After the whole flower is brown and crumbly looking, break it open onto a white paper plate and you will then see the seeds that I am talking about mixed in with the white chaff. They are a bit smaller.
Zinnia seed is pretty cheap to buy so if you are not sure what you are looking for, go to Dollar General and get one of the 10 for a dollar packets and have a look.
Hope it works out for you.
Windy

Thank you Windy. I will do that.