Mmqchdygg,

"I am so impressed with Zinnias this year it's ridiculous! I want them everywhere, lining every bed I have!"

I really like zinnias, too, and as a hobby I am an amateur zinnia breeder. So I raise as many zinnias as I can.

"A great 3-4 foot variety (likely will use in 'mixed' form as well as color-blocks.)"

Burpee Hybrids aren't advertised to grow as high as the 3-4 foot range you mentioned, but some of them do grow over 3 feet high. But Burpee doesn't have them in separate colors at this time. The mixture does contain a wide variety of zinnia colors as well as various informal flower forms.

For big tall separate colors, the Benary's Giants are available in a variety of separate colors. They were bred to be good cut flowers, so they have strong stems. I probably will be growing some next year, with the idea of crossing them with some of my informal flowered hybrids to get stronger stems and more rugged plants. Several seed houses carry Benary's Giants in separate colors, including Johnny's, Harris, and Park's. Parks refers to them as "Park's Picks".

"Also, I will be using a mid-height variety- something about 18" high..."

There are several good mid-height varieties. For medium height zinnias I like Burpeeana Giants. They normally start blooming at about 15 inches and eventually reach about 24 inches, and they can make nice bushes with lots of large flowers. For the best shaped plants, pinch out the first bud and then aggressively deadhead the plant throughout the season. This year my Burpeeanas had quite a few off-type specimens that were taller than 24 inches. Back in the 60's, Burpee had separate colors of Burpeeanas, but the new "re-invented" Burpeeanas come in a mixture only.

Ironically, Stokes continued raising the discontinued Burpeeanas as "heirloom" zinnias, and as of this year still had them in separate colors. I raised some white Burpeeanas (this year they have changed the designation to Giant Cactus White) from Stokes last year, and used a few selected white Burpeeanas in some of the crosses I made last year. I plan to grow some more of the Stokes Burpeeanas next year, as a "second source" of this bushy zinnia. Stokes' strain is a bit "run out", because a lot of them were "off type". Apparently their people who were hired to "rogue" the zinnia fields did a conscientious job of eliminating off-color zinnias, but it seems that almost any zinnia that was white was left in the field, with the result that a lot of white zinnias that weren't really the Burpeeana "type" found their way into the seed packet. However, in my opinion, Burpee themselves haven't fully restored Burpeeanas to their original "glory". But by growing a lot of them from both sources and selecting the best ones I think I can get some pretty good Burpeeana types.

I think Magellans and Dreamlands are both good bedding zinnias. There are several good pure colors available that could be massed to make impressive flower beds. They are both sort of "dahlia flowered" in their flower form. A lot of zinnias are described as dahlia flowered, but they don't look much like dahlias to me. One of my recent F2 hybrid specimens actually does look something like a dahlia to me, because of its extra large petals. Here is a picture of it:
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MM

These two are my favourites, not as tall as you would like thou.

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Zinnia Zowie Yellow Flame - Magenta flowers with orange centers and yellow tips on bushy plants that reach a garden height of 24-30 in. All America Selections Winner!
You can see them a mile away!

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'Magellan Coral' only grow about 14" high, but absoultely awesome in mass plantings.

Sharon

Wow- excellent! maineman, you might just have a visitor one day...ha ha! Thanks for all the tips! I guess I know where to go when I have a Z question!

Sharon- those masses are gorgeous! Love the way you've got them planted, and what a great display they're putting on! I didn't know the Zowies were that height, and I can certainly FIND a place to put them, even if it's mid-garden. Those are fantastic! Definitely adding to the list. Do you think the Swizzle Red/Yellow would get 'lost' under the foliage of your Zowies? Wondering if I can get color all the way to ground level doing something like that...

Maineman- do you grow yours indoors, or direct seed or wintersow outside?

Mmqchdygg,

"...do you grow yours indoors, or direct seed or wintersow outside?"

Last year I direct seeded all my zinnias, starting in June and ending in July. This year I started everything indoors, mostly in little 2" square plastic pots. I started some of my hybrids extra early in round "1-liter" pots made from the bottom parts of 2-liter soft drink bottles.

And one of those F1 "breeders" (code-named 8-0) was never transplanted into the garden. It went from seed to seed indoors under overdriven fluorescent lights. I did re-pot it in an 8-inch pot that I had handy. A 12-inch pot would have been better. I haven't experimented with wintersowing zinnias yet. That zinnia, 8-0, was one of my good breeders and it was the first of a strain that I call "marigold flowered" zinnias, because their blooms do remind me very much of some marigolds I have seen. As you can see from this picture, the marigold flowered zinnias are very un-zinnia-like in appearance.
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MM

Well, isn't THAT a handsome prize!!! Good job, maineman! (clap! clap! clap!)

Mmqchdygg, IMO, a plain colour Zinnia would look much better in front of the Zowies, two bicolor's will look too busy. Profusion Fire or Profusion Orange would look awesome in front, those grow about 12" high.

Good luck with your planning for next year ;)

Sharon

Hi Sharon-
Got any tips for growing those profusions? They didn't perform AT ALL this year, which is why I was going with the shorter, but bigger varieties, which did very well with the same (low) maintenance of merely giving them a trim occasionally. I also had Pinwheels and Linearis...all three were party poopers this year, whereas the bigger-bloom varieties did way better (except the canary yellow in a container, but I'm thinking there might have been too many in the pot that caused them to fail so miserably).

I'm not sure why Profusions didn't do well for you mmq. Did you get too much rain this year or were you overwatering them? Zinnias like to be on the dry side and they need well drained soil, they don't like their feet wet.

I have mine growing in the ground and in full sun, they get the sprinkler only if it hasn't rained in a couple of weeks. They get no added fertilizer, just what nutrients are in the ground. Once in awhile I'll go around and deadhead the finished blooms.

Other than that they bloom continuously till frost.

Try again next year, don't give up on them, they are superior performance plants for the front of the border.

Sharon

I agree with Sharon. Profusions are the sort of plant that you can bung into the ground and ignore completely, and they'll bloom their heads off.

I plant Cherry and White because they're the best colors for my garden, but the orange and yellow ones look great in the yard next door. I'll deadhead the Cherries some, very occasionally (I don't bother with deadheading the White at ALL). But I basically don't give them a thought after I plant them in May, except to appreciate the blooms!

Nope; all planted in the same conditions all over the yard. All spots are well-drained, not high or low moisture...some mulched, some not (this in reference to the zinnias that ARE performing)...the profusions and pinwheels are planted next to some that ARE performing, or are in different areas, but all the same condition of soil & moisture, so not sure what their problem is.
I'll try again, but only cuz you said so! LOL!

In recent years I have become a big fan of Profusion Zinnia and this year, grew 4 different colors from seed bought from Johnny's...
They also do great in a pot - this photo was taken in July, there are WAY many more flowers on it now! The pot contained 3 seedlings of Profusion Zinnia.

I have them in the ground in beds too, and they have done well in fairly rich soil...
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I grew a type of Zinnias called "California Giants". They came out really Beautifully. If you want huge flowers and a big bushy plant, try these. They come in different colours but the most striking are the Magenta ones. I will try to post some pics...very striking flower.

I grew many different zinnia's this year but my favorite are a selection of Benary's giants (carmine, red, purple etc) that I grew together in a new garden bed. It is my favorite garden bed right now.

ritug,

I prefer the California Giant flower form to the "dahlia flowered" zinnias because the California Giants have a more open petal spacing, allowing better airflow through the flower, which may help to make them less prone to diseases of various sorts. I'm not particularly fond of their up-cupped petal shapes, however. I would prefer that they were down-cupped.

A long time ago (several decades), there was a bi-colored strain called Crown of Gold. Its petals were always a golden yellow at the base, and any of many zinnia colors in the outer half of the petal. I could be wrong, but I think the Crown of Golds were a strain of California Giants. Sadly, the Crown of Gold strain has apparently gone extinct. Seed companies don't offer it any more.

I am an amateur zinnia breeder, just as a hobby of course, but it would be very interesting to cross the Crown of Golds with other zinnias. Zinnias like the Whirligigs are bi-colored, but they always have a magenta-based color like rose, pink, purple, or red on the base of their petals, and not a gold color like the Crown of Golds had.

I'm hoping that a Crown-of-Gold mutation will re-appear in my zinnia patch some day. It could be the basis for a widely expanded range of bicolored and tricolored zinnias.

MM

I've been planting Park's 'Uproar Rose' among my perennials for several years now. I love the height and long stems for large bouquets!

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ooo- franeli! I love those! And the combo you have going is simply striking! Very nice!

Franeli,

Wow, those look great. And I like the plant habit, too. I may have to grow Uproar next year and experiment with crossing them with some other zinnias. I'm always adding to my zinnia gene pool. Do you have any more pictures of your Uproar Rose zinnias that you could post?

It would be great if they came out with some more Uproars in 2008 in different colors. Uproar White would be good.

MM

maineman,

an 'uproar' rose zinnia cross would be exciting!

here 'she' is with some 'becky' shasta,'casa blanca' lily and a small flowered daylily:

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and here she is in another area near some 'blue horizon' ageratum and 'david' phlox:

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Wow-I didn't realise that Zinnies had such a variety other than what the retails have to offer...IThis yr I tried Giant Lavendar and Violet Queen-they turned out more pinkish and wasn't reallly happy with their growth... However I did Lilliputs and they grew beyond 18 inches and are just gorgeous....
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Juanita

Juanita,

That's an interesting picture showing the Lilliputs in a landscaping situation. Lilliput zinnias have been around since I was a kid and (grin) that was a long time ago. They used to be available in separate colors, and one particularly interesting variety was called Black Ruby.

Black Ruby was a very deep purple-maroon color, not really as black as some pansies I have seen, but it was very much darker than any of the zinnias I have seen in recent times. I actually grew a small patch of Lilliputs this year, hoping to see something really dark. I didn't, but then I only had about a dozen plants.

Next year I plan to plant lots more of them, closer together to save space, and pull out all but the more interesting ones at first bloom. This year one of my Lilliputs had very tiny little blooms, only about a half inch in diameter. Most Lilliputs have blooms about an inch across, sometimes a little more.

As an experiment next year, I think I will try crossing Lilliputs with some other zinnias. But I would really like to recover that dark Black Ruby color. I think it would look spectacular in a big spider-flowered zinnia with white petal tips.

MM

Sounds very interesting what you do for a hobby...if you ever figure out that 'Dark Ruby' give me a holler...i think they would be absolutely goreous in a big spider form.

Juanita

I am so happy to find this thread. This is my first time visiting and am thrilled to find other zinnia enthusiasts.It is too hot in Florida summers for growing most annuals I find that zinnias are a sure bet in the summer months.Our best gardening is usually done in winter and many gardeners stay indoors til fall.Thanks for all of you who are adding to the seed varieties!I find that zinnias are a sure bet in the summer months.
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They are definitely mood boosters!

I lost my posting just a minute ago wondering where the best online sources are for "different" seed, but in a search, came across this thread. Geez, I must be predictable, because it was this same time last year that I was having Zinnia-on-the-Brain, too!

I never did get the zinnias all in; I went the sunflower route instead...what a mistake THAT was!!! Never again! Sticking to the PLAN this time...09 WILL see my gardens FILLED with Zs!

I know Zinnia are listed in all the "kindergarten garden" lists so feel rather silly asking this but I need to do a much better job with Zinnia next year...already have some of my seeds.

The foliage in all your photographs is pristine and I go through all these Zinnia threads looking at them enviously.

My Zinnia foliage has just been a horrible mess all year. Granted, this was my first year growing anything but foliage was uniformly terrible whether they were planted in ground with plenty of air space around them or in containers.

Some were germinated in 20 oz. plastic cups with drainage and planted out and others were direct seeded.

Planted Magellan, Envy, Purple Prince, Violet Queen, Cherry Queen, Cut and Come Again, Lilliput and Cactus varieties.

Luckily they were the most visited flowers by nectaring butterflies who didn't care about the terrible foliage.

It didn't seem to matter if they were in full or part sun, good potting soil, well amended clay soil or straight cement clay soil.

I don't have a camera so can't post pictures so I'll do my best to describe foliage ailments.

Some leaves got black where the leaf meets stem and it spread to all foliage on plant.

Some leaves got rust colored spots and then shriveled up dry.

Some foliage was heavily damaged by deer/rabbit browsing early in the season and although the browsing subsided the plants seemed to be injured at some level and had horrid foliage even though they produced flowers.

Some foliage was eaten by slugs and once leaves had holes they just deteriorated from there.

I have to be honest and admit some got weakened by lack of watering for a week when I wasn't here but that may have exacerbated already present foliage "yuck".

Having a strong aversion to ugly, curled up and darkened foliage I took off most of bad leaves figuring a dried up leaf isn't contributing anything positive to the plant overall. Thank goodness no one can see most of the tall ones from the street because they look like flowers on a stick...LOL.

When I see photos as shown on this thread I see Zinnia plants closer than I planted mine since I was so worried about air flow and powdery mildew. After my first year growing them there wasn't enough good foliage left for them to suffer from powdery mildew!

I've got Benary Giant seeds in various colors and Magellan seeds already. I ordered the Mexican hagaanea variety after reading they were particularly attractive to butterflies...I'm a sucker for all those articles and reading so much "advice" drives me crazy sometimes.

Since I'm going to have to set up some protection for the Zinnia next year so they don't get eaten by rabbits and slugs (fencing early on and crushed oyster shells mixed throughout mulch and around each plant) are there any other general cultural conditions anyone could suggest that would help me prevent such foliage problems next year.

I'm assuming since I don't spray Zinnia with any chemicals because of butterflies that once you get a foliage problem there's nothing to stop its progression. Also assuming it's pretty hard to stop foliage problem progression once it's started even with chemicals.

And I DID bottom water all the plants...LOL.

Guess I'd have less slugs (2"-3" is just plain disgusting) if I didn't have mulch but everyone said I had to have mulch to conserve moisture and "feed the soil" so I mulched.

I love Zinnia and was thrilled to be able to grow them for the first time. I drool over all your gorgeous photos.

Even if that's not enough information without pictures to suggest much at least I finally found people who care about Zinnia instead of having people's eyes glaze over when I talk about the foliage problems!

newbie_in_nj,

You, too, can have zinnias with beautiful foliage, but you will need to change some of your cultural practices. It's late, so I won't go into a lot of details here.

"Guess I'd have less slugs (2"-3" is just plain disgusting) if I didn't have mulch but everyone said I had to have mulch to conserve moisture and "feed the soil" so I mulched."

Slugs love zinnia leaves, so I would suggest not mulching your zinnias next year. Slugs hate sand, so give your zinnias a sand mulch, instead. If slugs are a serious problem in your area, try some Sluggo bait. It's safe and very effective. Its active ingredient is iron phosphate, so any of it that the slugs don't eat will be a good nutrient for your plants.

"And I DID bottom water all the plants..."

Nature doesn't bottom water your zinnias, so you don't have to either. Zinnias love frequent shower baths, especially if there is some foliar nourishment in the water. Zinnias are fast growers and have huge appetites. Water soluble nutrients like Miracle-Gro and Better-Gro, properly diluted, are excellent for frequent foliar feeding. During cloudy weather, add some sugar to the foliar feed. Zinnias love it. Add a touch of glycerin to the mix to help them absorb the sugar extra fast. A good watering can is sufficient for foliar feeding, but a good sprayer can make your foliar feeding go easier and faster.

"I'm assuming since I don't spray Zinnia with any chemicals because of butterflies that once you get a foliage problem there's nothing to stop its progression."

I spray all kinds of stuff on my zinnias, and none of it hurts the butterflies at all. The zinnias grow bountifully and produce abundant nectar for the butterflies and hummingbirds. GreenCure® controls a long list of foliage diseases, as you can see by clicking on that link. And it is perfectly safe for you, your plants, and your butterflies and hummingbirds. Explore that website for more info on GreenCure.

There is a lot more to learn about growing healthy zinnias, like providing them with silicon for strong cell walls, sturdy plants, and disease resistance. And by increasing their natural resistance with products like Messenger. But we can go into that later. Just know that your zinnia problems are solvable. And, for more zinnia pictures, browse our It can be fun to breed your own zinnias message threads.

MM

I'm wondering if newbie didn't overwater the zinnias. If it doesn't rain within the week that I sow zinnias, I'll give the area a watering. Once they are up, I water them only if we go two weeks without rain. They love heat and sunshine.

wow didnt know there was so much info on zinnias!
my fav this year i grew is ? well love them all! lol but the zinnia aztec sunsets are beauitful! first time growing them. and the green envys, hope thses two dont cross to much with the others, lol i have that happen with the giant cals n lilieputts.im growing them in a diffrent spot next year.
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I too love zinniaz, planted three beds and a large pot at
tifferent times , and here are some of them.
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My latest ones are just budding good. I planted zinnias
last few years, but many more this summer here in NW OK.

Happy gardening , caroline

Chrizty, Is that a black 'Aztec sunset' in the NW quadrant of your 9/20/08 15:19 photo? I need you to save me some seed from that one.

Mmqchdygg, I know what you mean about the sunflowers. No one told me they will completely take over.
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Love the photo of Zowie Yellow Flame.

This is a very informative thread. My seed catalogs are arriving and I'm trying to decide on some new zinnias to try.

I had great luck with Scarlet Flame last year. They were blooming about 30 days from seed.

Christie,

Wow! This message thread has been "asleep" for a while! So far I have received only one seed catalog (Stokes), but I am hoping for more, like Burpee's, Park's, Johnny's, and Harris. I also buy some seeds from online sources that don't send me catalogs. When it is snowy outside, I enjoy leafing through seed catalogs by a warm fire while sipping a warm drink.

"Love the photo of Zowie Yellow Flame."

Zowie won an AAS award, so a lot of people must like it. I like its three-color combination, but I don't like its tall pollen-bearing central cones. I prefer zinnia blooms that don't "throw pollen", like this one.

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If you like bi-colors and tricolors in zinnias, you might enjoy trying the Whirligig zinnia strain. I enjoy growing them, because they have so many different color combinations and flower forms. Some of them look almost like fireworks.

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I save seeds from some of my favorite specimens as part of my hobby of home breeding my zinnias. I also enjoy cross-pollinating some of them, to see the interesting results.

ZM
(not associated with any product or vendor mentioned)

I'm looking for a bright red zinnia..dahlia flowered type that doesn't grow over 24-36 inches tall. Anybody know of a particular catalog that may have the seeds to sell?

Pippi,

Both the Giant Dahlia Flowered zinnias and the Benary's Giant zinnias are bred to be cut flowers with rather long stems, so they tend to run tall in the 40-inch to 50-inch range. Park's Big Red Hybrid is listed at a slightly less tall 36 inches.

If you don't mind 40 to 50 inches tall, Johnny's Selected Seeds has a good selection of separate colors in Benary's and Dahlia flowered.

You could probably keep them less tall by pinching the central bud and not planting them too close together. If you need to make a large planting with a corresponding large amount of seeds, I would suggest Hazzard's Wholesale Seeds.

ZM
(not associated with any product or vendor mentioned)

I love this thread and all the gorgeus pictures. I love the scabious form, magellan coral and my favorite is candy cane of which I seeded quite a few packs this October and none came up. will try again in January for February color. AT the moment have no zinnias but the bougamvillas, geraniums, begonias, and petunias are putting on quite a show. Thanks for all those pictures, they made my day and inspired me to get off my quilting kick and back in the garden in the morning. Josie

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Josie,

That's a beautiful zinnia grouping. They look so healthy and that bark mulch looks good, too. I take it from your forum name, and your zone 9, that you live in that area. It's a lot colder here in Kansas, and very little is growing here now. We had a hard killing freeze late last October. I have been growing a few zinnia cuttings indoors under fluorescent lights for the last few weeks, and some of them have put out some odd little blooms, like this one.

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I need to cut off those blooms and try to encourage those cuttings to become larger cutting plants. Eventually I might be able to take cuttings from them. Growing zinnias indoors isn't nearly as easy as growing them outdoors.

ZM

zenman,
I take it from your forum name, and your zone 9, that you live in that area.

You are correct I live in deep South Texas, 7 miles from the Mexican Border where all hell is breaking loose. Our climate is indeed very mild here. WE have had one cold day so far and the rest have been spring weather and some cloudy days on and off. The picture was this Summer but were all destroyed by the hurricane season. I replanted alot of zinnia seeds a month ago and nothing came up and sadly I used all the zinnia seeds I had including what I had for trade. Not sure what happened because this is one of our planting seasons and zinnias get really huge this time of year. NOw I will have to wait until February when the stores put out seeds for sale. Down here it is not like the rest of the country where you can find seed most of year. I am hoping things settle around here so I can start some trades next week. Thnks, Josie

Josie,

"The picture was this Summer but were all destroyed by the hurricane season."

That's too bad. That was a nice looking bunch of zinnias. Remnants of a hurricane made it up here last Summer, but by the time it got to Kansas it was just some heavy rain and high winds of maybe 40mph. This is a picture of part of my zinnia patch this last Summer.

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As you can see, I use rebars and "zinnia cages" to help hold my zinnias up in storms that have high winds. Sustained winds of 30mph are rather common here.

"I replanted a lot of zinnia seeds a month ago and nothing came up..."

That's odd. Zinnias are usually quite good about coming up.

"Now I will have to wait until February when the stores put out seeds for sale. Down here it is not like the rest of the country where you can find seed most of year."

Have you tried buying seeds out of seed catalogs or from online stores? I got my Johnny's Selected Seeds catalog a couple of days ago, and you can also buy directly online. I also buy seeds from Burpee's, Park's, Harris, Stokes, and Hazzard's. Or, if you don't like to do online shopping, you could at least request a free catalog. Most major seed companies now have online seed sales. You get a wider selection that way. Companies like Johnny's have a lot of separate colors of zinnias, including some that are on your wanted list. If you requested a catalog from Johnny's, you could shop for seeds in the comfort of your living room or breakfast table.

ZM
(not associated with any product or vendor mentioned)

This is my first year with Zinnia's and I am having great success in Z5 also. It is amazing how large this mass has gotten. Beginner question: do you deadhead zinnia or let them do their thing?

Valerie,

"...do you deadhead zinnia or let them do their thing?"

They look better if you deadhead them. The exception is when you decide to save seeds from them or perhaps cross a few of your favorites with each other. If you have decided to save seeds from a zinnia, then obviously you won't remove the head that is supposed to produce the seeds.

ZM