It's doubtful you are doing something wrong, short of having lousy soil. I think most gardeners' pet peeve is the liberties that advertisers take in describing colors. I am glad to read your post about Zinnia, Starlight, for I was planning to get it this year. I saw a "real" picture of it on the internet and your description is apt. I will probably pass. Thank you.

Just as a hint, I have found that if a particular flower typically comes in a range of warm yellows to oranges, say, like marigolds or cosmos, then it pays to be skeptical when they introduce a "sunny red". They would say, of course, that this name, is open to interpretation: brick red (meaning red/orange or brown), scarlet red (red leaning toward yellow or orange) or blood red with alot of blue undertones. (here's where the skepticism should come in). The trouble is, you can't know what the color truly is without seeing it somewhere, OR without asking someone on GW for an honest evaluation.

In general, if a plant typically comes in only warm colors, you can probably expect any new varieties to be warm too; or vice versa for cools. (Note, I said in general.)

The real confusion comes for me when they're describing "blue". This can mean anything from lavender, to blue violet, to royal purple, to magenta (which is sometimes also described as red), to true, but rare, blue. Even gardeners will argue about this one.

All this being said, it pays to buy small packets of seed and try them in an out of the way place or a pot, AND to haunt garden centers and look at the bedding plant colors, AND to visit botanical gardens and make notes. What can I say? This gardening thing becomes an obsession for an awful lot of us. :)

We have some posts relating to your problem in this thread

Thanks, Izhar! :)

Alicia

I sent you an e-mail direclty, Donnabaskets, and I also thought I submitted it here. Don't see it, though. Hmmm....sorry. Hopefully you got the e-mail I sent you.

Thank you!
Alicia

Nope. No e-mail. Try again? I read the other thread about Starlight Rose. No surprise (after reading it) that heat would affect the pink color. Our climate affects many plants' colors here. I hate that. It is soooo pretty.

Just sent the e-mail again, but I'll post what I said here too:

You're so right. I find that the blue to be more of a purple or lavender usually; blacks to be more of a dark purple sometimes. And I had bought 'Scarlet O'Hara' Morning Glory because it showed it as red, and it ended up being a fuschia color, not a true red. :( And I guess the 'Sunny Red' could be plainly disputed because the sun is orange, so 'Sunny Red' could be a good description for it, but I went off the picture along with the word "red," which was a big mistake. :) Oh, well. I do need to be more vigilant in asking others on the forums about their true colors.
When I trade seeds, I do mention in parentheses "more orange than red" when I offer up the 'Sunny Red' Cosmos, or I'll tell people the 'Zahara Rose Starlight' isn't quite as vibrant as the pictures in magazines show. It doesn't surprise me that they do that, as who would buy something that doesn't look very nice?
I've found that when I grow something I don't like, I collect the seeds, trade with others so that others that do want it can have some, but then I don't grow it again and try something new! :) So it does allow me to grow new things all the time by having more space. My garden is constantly changing from year to year!
This was the best picture I could get of my 'Zahara Rose Starlight' (sorry it's so big):
{{gwi:1647}}
Thanks for responding. I was starting to think I wasn't fertilizing enough or doing too much. I have good, rich dirt in the ground in PA here, and I replace the top half of all potting soil in my pots every year with Miracle-Gro along with a little mushroom manure, so I also thought maybe I was doing too much fertilizing. LOL
Oh, and my 'Scarlet Starlet' Marigold usually pops up all different variations unlike what they show. I do get a few like they show in the pictures, but then the whole section or pot of that variety can be a variation.
As Forest Gump would say, "It's like a box of chocolates. You never know what you'll get."
All in all, I do grow a lot of beautiful flowers. It just has opened my eyes as to buying new varieties. :)