Yet more zinnias

Feel free to add your various zinnia pics here.

Canary Bird Yellow

Big Tetra Mix. This really has a mix of shapes and colors in it.

Lavender Gem. This one darkens with age.

Crazy coloring on this Big Tetra one.

Thanks, Al, for your gracious invitation to post zinnia photos here. Yours look wonderful.

Here's a vivid orange one that I like (Benary Giant).

Another shot of the same orange variety. Kind of like the Allis Chalmers tractors they used to manufacture up in Wisconsin, Al :)

That is a nice color. I haven't grown any of the Benarys. They used to have a tractor for every zinnia color.LOL

I have a closeup of a red one from the Dreamlands mix.

Zinnia Purple Prince seeds from Burpee were 50% off this March. The row below costs 89 cents. The seed package shows Dahlia-like blooms. Perhaps one in five is Dahlia-like. All make nice cut flowers but the plants are too massive for this border. Asters last year were prettier.

Al, your red looks great. This appears to have a hint of burgundy rather than red-to-orange.

David Paul, that is one impressive zinnia border! Even if you liked the asters better last year, your zinnias are very attractive and the foliage is so nice as well.

Here is a "pink" from a mix of Giant Benary. In real life it has more of a darker rose hue, but not showing it so much in this photo.

Although this one is the unfortunate victim of a Japanese Beetle attack (curse those demon bugs!) and, thus, not too photogenic, I thought I'd add it to the collection anyway. I like the color pattern on this cactus shape. Maybe there are scads of them out there, but I haven't seen many with the layered color pattern. I'm hoping some survive and I get some better blooms of this type. Don't know the precise variety: it was in a general Cactus mix.

This one is a muted buff/gold color. Not really a "standout" in the garden, but might work well as a cut flower in an arrangement since it can complement many other colors.

I'll take your 'Purple Princes"! Are they tetras, I wonder? :-)

Is anyone growing "Uproar Rose"? I thought maybe the butterflies would really go for this one and Purple Prince..

http://www.parkseed.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDisplay?storeId=10101&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&mainPage=prod2working&ItemId=2212&cid=pport0001

David - I like you zinnias there!

Tab - You know I had Uproar Rose last year and it was my favorite so I saved some seeds - they are coming up in every color from those seeds.LOL

Bdale - You can keep the JB's please.

I dragged a bunch of my pots together for a shot.

Here are some of mine. Had to pinch the Japanese Beetles off to take the pictures.

First up is 'Profusion Cherry' Not well-named, but what can I say?

Al, We must have posted at the same time -- Did you say ALL those colors came up from 'Uproar Rose' saved seed? LOL!

Here is Benary's Scarlet - you can see 2 styles in this one photo of some cut flowers I picked.

I like the scarlet. No those are different types in that pic. Once they are all open in the saved Uproar Rose seed I will post a full shot.

Oh, I would love to see the flowers from "Uproar Rose" seeds. Can't wait!

I've got some cool cosmos that reseeded this year that have 'new' forms also.

So many pretty zinnias! That cactus one is awesome looking BDale, and I really like the profusion cherry and the scarlet Benary's too. May have to try those next year. Here's my zinnia bed this year, Benary's Salmon Rose with blue bachelor's buttons.

And here's another view with the zinnias, bachelor's buttons, and some larkspur in back. I really like the blue and salmon color combo.

Love the shape on those cosmos Al! Square picotee petals - very unusual.

I really like your second pic - very pleasant.


I never planted any Picotee either though. I had Sensation and Double Click with some reverting to Seashells. I call this one Ruffles - looks like half of a Seashells.

BDale...very nice pink. I'll go with pink next year. The Purple Prince looks nice close up but it doesn't stand out from the street . A month ago my neighobor across the street asked, with a puzzled look on his face, "Are you planting the whole sidewalk with basil?" From a distance, the leaves do look somewhat like basil.

Bigcityal,

I sure would like to get a zinnia from my breeding project that looks like that "Ruffles" cosmos. I really like unusual flower forms like that.

MM

Illoquin, nice scarlet!

Rebecca, that is an awesome photo with the blue and salmon together.

Al, those are very attractive cosmos. I've always loved the feathery foliage on those flowers in addition to the blooms. Not growing any this year for the first time in awhile (and no self-seeded volunteers which is kind of unusual). May have to plant some more next season.

David Paul, I'm still marveling at your beautiful "89 cent border". It goes on forever! They do look a little bit like basil from a distance.

You people are great photographers in addition to great gardeners!!

Bigcityal...very nice cosmos. Read they reseed easily (too easily in some cases I guess). But I couldn't start them from seed. Got a discount package of tall white cosmos I was going to put behind the purple zinnias but only 2 of 48 seed germinated. Think it was just old seed? The two plants I have are weak. Seems if they come up from the dirt, they should be OK on a store shelf for a year. Had the zinnias in the same tray so I don't think it was the potting mix or temp. Any ideas?

tabasco...I don't know what tetras are!...LOL...I'm new at this. Don't recall seeing that on the pack of Burpee's Purple Prince. As I mentioned, about one in five blossoms looks something like a Dahlia. Is that a "tetra"?

BDale...here is the same border last year with Asters. I was cutting the lawn a little better then I see.We don't see this border very well from inside the house. I plant it mainly for the neighbors and traffic going into town (we're on the main street). Thinking of putting in something new every year Any suggestions? Need something which stands out from 100 feet or more away and blooms a long time.




This message was edited Jul 19, 2007 4:23 AM

David Paul,

I love asters and that is a gorgeous shot of your border. Lucky neighbors!!

Here's a photo of "Fireworks" asters from last year. Alas, I don't have any photos of them in the garden, only as cut flowers. They looked great in a raised bed, and I"m betting they would be nice in a border as well. Terrific for arrangements; long, clean stems and blooms that last forever in a vase. We are not growing them this year (growing "Giant Princess" from Seeds of Change, which we also love, and they have the "eye" like the asters in your photo).

I'm not sure how bold and outrageous you want to be with your border, and given the nice soft hues you have this year and last maybe this is kind of a crazy suggestion, but we've had good luck with the "Righteous Red" zinnia mix from Seeds of Change. I don't have any good photos at the moment, but I'll try to get one over the next couple of weeks. They've got a photo in their web catalog, I believe, and their website is listed in Garden Watchdog here on DG. We've grown that mix a couple of times, and it is a bold, red-orange which definitely grabs the eye. Maybe too much for you and the neighbors? :)

This message was edited Jul 19, 2007 5:42 AM

I'm not sure what 'tetras' really are either (that's why I wondered if your pp was one) but as far as I know (and others can give much more detail) 'tetra' is short for 'tetraploidy' and is related to the number of chromosomes the plant has. Usually tetraploid plants on the market are more robust and bigger (although not always) as opposed to diploid plants.

I'm new at this too an I am just learning about this on some of the other threads--maineman and illoquin and others have more knowledge of this...

And I asked about Z. 'Uproar Rose', because I thought maybe it was a rose colored 'tetra' that could be a companion to PP....

I didn't catch it first time around that your border cost 89 cents!?! That really amazes me. And I love the Aster border, too. I didn't know asters could looks so pretty! I bet they are lovely in front of your Victorian(?).

Rebecca--Those cornflowers really set off your salmon zinnias. It's a masterful combination!

David_Paul,

Those Asters are AMAZING! I have never seen anything like that before. What kind are they, exactly? Do you have any seed left?

I am just ga ga over that photo -- no wonder the purple Zinnias were a disappointment to you - I can't think of anything that would rival that! It is just perfect! PERFECT!

Suzy

Here is Exquisite. I believe I chose this one to compare against Uproar Rose that I liked. I'll know later my preference.

OK tabasco, this photo is from the seeds from last year's Uproar Rose plants. I can't make this stuff up ;)

Nice photos! everyone.The exquisite and purple prince will be added to my list for next year.

Here is uproar rose .The bloom wasn't full looking.Maybe, the next bloom will be better.

You got that crazy surreal looking photo that I get when I zoom in too.LOL
You wanted this of course
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/118991/
not every flower was real full - a good amount were.

I will be keeping my fingers crossed.LOL! for more full looking blooms.

Very interesting, Al, how the seeds from Uproar Rose produced flowers with such color variance. It's a pretty pot of color, in any case. 'Exquisite' is nice, too. I just generally don't especially care for those flowers that fade into other shades...

skimper--you're right, the 'uproar rose' in the photo is not as full as the one in the catalog. I wonder what causes such a difference...? I like it anyway. :-)

I wish I knew.I was wondering if the lack of rain could cause differences in the bloom.
Last year my zinnias looked fuller.The cherry/ivory swizzle, has to be the best bloom this year for me.
I like the contrast effect of the bloom.

Skimper, I'd give it time on your Uproar Rose. I grew that one last year and most of the blooms were very full and double. I think on every zinnia I've grown so far the first bloom or two is somewhat uncharacteristic - smaller or a single or something.

Al, I love all your pots of multi-colored zinnias, they are so cheerful. How big are those pots? I would have thought the bigger zinnias would be cramped in containers, but yours look great.

Yeah, Al, I agree with Rebecca. How many seeds do you put in a pot? (Oh, and how big are the zinnias and how big are the pots?) LOL Need all the info!

One of the garden centers here sells 5 Zinnias --- probably Dreamland in a 10" pot for like $19.95 each. There is usually one plant of 5 different colors. I just went by there are they are reduced down to $12.95, but that's still pretty durn expensive!

For that price I could succomb to buying a multi pack of Dreamland -- I think they sell 1 pack each of all the colors for about $22.00 or so.

That reminds me, I should post of the seed trading forum for the Red Dreamland Zinnias. What is the other kind that's good? Is it Magellan? Does anybody know the difference between Dreamland & Magellan? Any others than combine a medium height plant with those big flowers?

Suzy

Illoquin,--Was wondering, too, what the differences are between Dreamland and Magellan. So I googled (of course)....

This plant catalog gives a pretty good detailed description of both Dreamland and Magellan types. From the pics it looks like Dreamland is more like a shorter 'benary giant' and the magellans are short and bushier stemmed and for bedding...I don't know, but have a look:

http://www.estabrooksonline.com/catalog2/annuals/annual.asp?id=Zinnia

I did see that 3 Dreamland zinnias won the RHS Award of Garden Merit in 2002 and is bred by Takai. Which is pretty good. I didn't notice that they trialled magellans (goldsmith), though.

And here's a trial comparison of the two zinnia series from Texas A & M:

http://flowers.tamu.edu/SpringField2005/Zinnia_List.htm

They both got pretty good marks in that one.

I want a zinnia that will bloom into September (is there such a thing?) for the Monarch butterfly migration. I suppose succession planting of the seed would work to some extent...?