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Post by gianna on Jun 23, 2023 19:36:25 GMT -5
I was window shopping for Zinnia seeds to restock, and egads the prices are high! I was looking mainly at the Queeny series, and am almost out. Gonna have to wait either till end of season sales, or after the seed places are re-stocked with fresh seed for next year. Or save seed from the current batch I'm growing and accept hybrids. I really don't want to isolate them. That doesn't work that well with Zinnias anyway, unless 'pure' patches are spatially isolated and pollinators stay home, so to speak. I am planning on intermixing the varieties in the garden. First world problem.
I initially had purchased some from Baker Creek, but they have halved the numbers of seeds per packet for these, and one variety is down to 15 seeds/packet.
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Zinnias
Jul 15, 2023 17:22:42 GMT -5
Post by datgirl on Jul 15, 2023 17:22:42 GMT -5
My Zinnia's are shot. The earwigs have destroyed them. They also have destroyed a pot of Marigolds. Not sure why the earwigs are so bad this year.
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Post by binnylou on Jul 15, 2023 17:36:03 GMT -5
datgirl, earwig population has been horrid for several years…in our gardens. They really like Dahlias.
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Zinnias
Aug 21, 2023 12:03:25 GMT -5
Post by gianna on Aug 21, 2023 12:03:25 GMT -5
One of my Zinnia beds (a double row about 12 ft long) is all from the Queeny series. Queeny Lime, blush, red, orange, and the new Lemon Peach. I really like them, but in a group they are rather blah. Too light in color in general. I do especially like the new Queeny Lemon Peach, and will get more seed of that. But going forward, I'll collect the seed from the others and hope for the best. The other two beds in front are a mixture of other varieties and self-saved seed. A nice colorful mix. There are some queeny plants mixed in with these, and they compliment each other well, color-wise. Except from the self-saved seeds, there are too many mid-range pinks - not my favorite color. In the back yard, I've got more Zinnias. These are all from self-saved variety Unicorn, from Florets. And the color and general variety, and vigor of these second generation plants, is very nice. Unicorn is a variety Florets (a bit on the boutique-y side for a seed seller) has in-house developed, and was to me, knock your socks of in some photos. I was able to get one packet a couple years ago, and it's now no longer sold. Practically speaking, it was not stabilized enough, did not have good enough germination, and the plants were not that strong. But their off-spring from self-saved seeds show hybrid vigor and are very satisfactory. Except again for too many mid-range pinks. Off with their heads!I also just planted out the remaining original Unicorn seedlings. There are about 15 of them, planted off by themselves. They can be pollinated with anything the bees bring in, or are selfed. And seed saved from any that I like. Going forward, I'm going to be doing lots of seed saving from my favorites of any variety or unknowns. And when I sow this unholy mixture, I'm going to plant them very close together, and when they start to bloom, I'm going to cut off at the base all the mid-range pinks (which seems to be a wild-type genetic expression) and leave a pleasant variety of yellows, apricots, blushes, orange, white, greens, reds and whatever else nature decides. Another thing of interest right now, is harvesting green Zinnia seeds. Apparently that works. It's not necessary for the seed head to be dry and brown to collect good seed. Seeds, especially from the outer ray flowers, are viable in older inflorescences, even when the head is still green and colorful (but past its prime). So if desired, you can get a second generation quickly. Even faster if you nick/scarify the still-green seed coat. This will be the next Zinnia experiment, as soon as there is a seed head mature enough. Zinnias - the adventure continues. edit: scroll down to see some lovely, muted Unicorn zinnias in bloom. These photos are also better than the ones on the Floret site: freshcutky.co/2020/08/24/florets-unicorn-mix-zinnias-theyre-gorgeous/
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Zinnias
Sept 14, 2023 21:32:59 GMT -5
Post by binnylou on Sept 14, 2023 21:32:59 GMT -5
I have never grown it, but I did get some seeds of the Profusion in several colors that looked very appealing. Maybe next year they'll get planted. So, gianna, did you plant the Profusion seeds? I purchased the yellow and the red zinnias. The yellow is just beautiful, almost irridescent. The red ones turned out to be pumpkin colored, but they look good with the yellow zinnias. I'm just wondering if I order them aain, do I order the red or the orange. I'm envsioning pots of the yellow zinnias around the front door area.
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Post by gianna on Sept 15, 2023 12:22:21 GMT -5
So, gianna, did you plant the Profusion seeds? No, I did not plant them. This year I was really into the Queeny series, and Floret's Unicorn and its off-spring, etc. All of which are quite glorious right now after all the heat. The Profusion that was most appealing to me is the apricot colored one. Maybe next year... They are all in unopened foil packets in the fridge, so they should keep a few years. Shhhh.... Don't tell anyone - I had gone a bit bonkers and bought too many Zinnia seeds.
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Post by gianna on Oct 14, 2023 13:14:02 GMT -5
This morning during the eclipse, I went outside to collect Zinnia seeds. There would be much out-crossing, but if there's not too many pinks, I like a good mix.
I tried to keep the different varieties separate, but I'm sure there were mistakes. I put the dry head each variety into a separate paper bag, and put them in a warm dry place inside. Later I'll just go out and collect a batch more indiscriminately.
I did notice that some of the less expensive OP Zinnias just had not produced as many flowers as the known, higher priced varieties. Polar Bear (white), and Issabellini (lovely pale yellow/cream) just had not produced as many flowers/seed heads. While all/most of the Queen series had many flowers, as well as Benary Giant deep red did as well. Coincidence?
What I'm thinking of doing next year is to plant great numbers of these saved seeds, moving them up into very small pots, then tossing any that are that generic/wild-type bubble-gum/peptodismal pink, then planting out the others. Lots of work, but almost half of my self-saved seeds produced plants of that color, and I really prefer other colors.
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Post by heirloomfan on Nov 8, 2023 10:29:23 GMT -5
I've grown the Queeny series too and many say that the colors are more subtle and 'antique' than the usual vibrant colors from most zinnias. I love all type of zinnias and grow them every year but it's interesting to find a few new types to see how they turn out. When they first introduced the green zinnias, I tried Envy and just thought that they were a bit blah, the Queen Lime green was a bit brigher in color. Normally have always grown the Benary's Giants, but the seeds seem to be less available lately and the prices when you can find them have gone way up, fewer seeds for a higher price but a lot of seeds sold in the last couple of years are less for more cost.
I also grew some Polar Bear, they did produce but the plants seemed to be shorter than the others. One thing I did try was some succession planting of sunflowers and zinnias and thought it worked out pretty well, did get some more to start blooming as others were fading out.
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Post by gianna on Jan 2, 2024 19:21:02 GMT -5
This is probably insane, but I'm going to start some Zinnia seeds now. I've just been winnowing saved seed from last year, and there are a lot of them. I've planted very early in the past and kept them in gallon pots, off the ground, against south facing windows in full sun. I got blooms enough to satisfy. This is not intended as a main crop. Self-saved seeds so no new expense, and used potting soil. Other than time, and a bit of electricity for the heat mat, nothing to lose. Besides a few more brain cells. I still have Zinnia plants outside, in the ground, that are technically alive and with scrunched flowers still forming. They look like h*ll of course, and should have been pulled. But still alive in January, is still alive. These new ones will be in a more hospitable situation. I think I'm going to plant 2 saved seeds in each cell, and cut out the weaker one. 6 cells in 6 sm pony packs for 36 total, just to see how viable this seed is. And I can't help myself, lol.
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Post by binnylou on Jan 2, 2024 22:07:04 GMT -5
I have some Zinnia seeds in my shopping cart. Insane? Doesn’t matter.
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Post by gianna on Feb 9, 2024 11:26:13 GMT -5
The Zinsanity continues... The seeds I started Jan 2 are now at least 3 inches tall and looking good. They've enjoyed our recent rains. They are still in small plastic pots. Still too early to go into the ground. I thought I was done buying seeds. I had stocked up late last year, but alas I purchased one wrong variety. I'd wanted to restock Queenie Lime Orange, but instead got Queenie (pure) Orange. I like them both, and not that big an error. Fortunately baker Creek carries Queenie Lime Orange, $4 for 25 seeds, and it's just been shipped. REasonable-ish for something I really want. The worst of the Zinsanity was a purchase from Florets for their home-bred Golden Hours. I've been waiting for that one for over 2 years, and they were selling it again. And the price had gone up to $17.95 for 50 seeds. Gulp. I was thinking of not getting it, but, heck, I'd been waiting for that long, and I'd spend more than that on lunch out (which I don't do anymore). So I pulled the trigger and am glad I did. As soon as it gets here, I'll plant about a dozen seeds, fire up the heat mat, and grow them in pots on the warm/sunny side, bag the flowers, and save the seed. So the 2024 season begins.
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Post by binnylou on Feb 10, 2024 11:32:44 GMT -5
gianna, I looked…those are really pretty. When they bloom, you’ll forget about the price you paid. Enjoy.
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Zinnias
Feb 10, 2024 14:43:53 GMT -5
Post by gianna on Feb 10, 2024 14:43:53 GMT -5
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Zinnias
Feb 11, 2024 10:46:57 GMT -5
Post by pepperhead212 on Feb 11, 2024 10:46:57 GMT -5
Seems I remember shocking prices even more, as I get older. I'm probably just getting cheaper, if that was even possible.
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Zinnias
Feb 11, 2024 18:48:30 GMT -5
Post by gardendmpls on Feb 11, 2024 18:48:30 GMT -5
It seems their prices may be high because they are developing new varieties, so these are not the usual ones sold on other sites. Still, don't think having the upcoming latest varieties is worth that much, especially as they say there are still some off-types mixed in.
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