DB,

Profusions are open pollinated, so they are not sterile. A lot of people have successfully grown them from saved seeds. (And they do come true from seed.) I have no idea why yours didn't germinate. Perhaps the seedhead or seedheads that you thrashed out hadn't been pollinated. I don't have experience growing Profusions, but occasionally a "regular" zinnia seed will take a couple of weeks or more to germinate. Sometimes they pop up in a day or two.

ZM

They don't need refrigeration. Perhaps the long chill damaged them. Best results occur if the seed are stored in a cool (as in not warmish), dry location.

Be patient a while longer and let us know if you see results.

When I was gardening in Maine, I had lots of zinnias come up "volunteer", which meant that some seeds had fallen out of the seedheads and spent the Winter in the garden, where they germinated next Spring in a kind of accidental Winter Sowing mode. In other words, they were self-seeding. The frost line there in Maine was about 4 feet, so those zinnia seeds must have spent several months frozen solid that Winter, with considerable exposure to sub-zero temperatures.

I wouldn't expect storage in a refrigerator to hurt zinnia seeds, as long as they stayed dry. However, it's conceivable that a self-defrosting refrigerator might actually damage the seeds by occasionally getting them too warm.

ZM

Were the seed heads ripe when you gathered them or still green. If you take seeds before the pods are brown and the seeds are ready to drop off the plant, they will be immature and won't grow.

When you took them out of the fridge did they look like they did when you put them in there?

If you gathered them when they were ripe and they looked good when you planted them, then wait a while. My seed catalogue says they take 9 or 10 days to germinate

Two weeks and counting. Not a single one has germinated. I had this same experience last year. When I finally ordered seed, they came right up. I am so puzzled.

And yes, the flower heads were very ripe when I picked them. The seed look just like the "store bought" kind....

It must have something to do with the storage method. Next time, why not try storing them in an airtight container in your pantry (or similar dark, cool location)?

Everything I read about the seeds of this generation of plants is that they will be sterile. Maybe zen can direct us to some good information that will educate us differently. The seeds of hybrids are often sterile.

I can't really educate you about Profusion seeds, because I haven't grown them or saved seeds from them yet. I do plan to plant some Profusions and experiment with them.

In previous years, I have made the mistake of saving "regular" zinnia seeds that looked good to me, but were either empty shells or, if they contained embryos, the embryos were dead for some reason. In order to speed things up, I now frequently save "green seeds" and plant them. This is a picture of a few saved green seeds:

{{gwi:1020}}

It is fairly easy to learn to distinguish seeds that contain developed embryos from those that don't. But it takes a little learning. If in doubt, try to bend the seed a little in the middle. If it contains an embryo, it will resist bending, but if the seed is empty, it will bend easily. Don't overdo the bending. You can break a good seed that way. Sometimes you can just pinch the seed gently between your thumb and forefinger and tell if the seed is "two-dimensional" or not.

Another thing that can go wrong is that you get a rainy season after the seedhead has matured. The seeds may actually germinate in the seedhead in those circumstances. If, when you are shucking the seeds, you see any little dried roots peeking out of the small end of the seeds, that indicates that those seeds pre-germinated and died in the head.

But don't give up on saving seeds from Profusions. Some gardeners have done it successfully, so we know it can be done.

ZM

Donna - I can't add anything, but am interested in following your experience on the Profusion seeds.

ZM - you are so generous (and in such a kind tone) with sharing your knowledge of zinnias. I do appreciate how much I am learning from reading your responses to posts and questions.

Cameron

Update. This past week I sowed some profusion zinnias that I had ordered new this year. In comparing them to the seeds I saved, there is a big difference in color. The new ones are a silvery blue grey color (glaucous) and the ones I saved are more of an olive green. Yesterday, after three weeks, I saw one little seedling pushing up from the saved seed flat. Will keep you posted.

Despite having loads of butterflies and own bee hive, none of my double Profusion zinnias set viable seeds... they are extremely easy from cuttings and I am propagating them this way...

Interesting that this old thread was revived. After trying to save Profusion seed two years running, unsuccessfully, I have given up. I buy them in bulk from Hazzards seeds, and all things considered, they are fairly inexpensive. I save lots of seeds...I think I have the technique down...no go with Profusions. Oh, well.

I purchased some profusion zinnia plants for my work place and saved seed from them replanting, now, at least three years running. I've been amazed how the offspring from each succeeding generation still resemble the original parents, which is something I did not expect.