TC,

"I suspect that since we're dealing with hybrids, 100% uniformity in form is asking a lot, but I'm getting about 100% crap with the Peppermint Stick. My Thumbelinas and Liliputs are a bit better but not much. Is this a seed issue, soil or something else? "

It's probably a seed issue. Miracle-Gro provides good nutrition, and I use it in my outdoor zinnia garden. I prefer the Miracle-Gro Tomato Food for its higher magnesium content, but "regular" Miracle-Gro is fine.

None of the zinnia varieties you mentioned are actually F1 hybrids, but commercial zinnias are rather heterozygous because of bee cross-pollination, so considerable variation is to be expected in commercial zinnia seeds. The few commercial zinnia F1 hybrids are crosses between special inbred lines, and should be reasonably uniform.

"I'm getting about 100% crap with the Peppermint Stick."

The common wisdom is that "Ninety percent of everything is crap", so your experience isn't too much worse than usual. Actually, the original quotation used the word "crud" and was attributed to the science fiction writer, Theodore Sturgeon as "Sturgeon's Law". But things were more "genteel" then, and the word "crap" is what was meant, and TV censors now allow its use in network television, so hopefully the forum administrators will allow its use here.

I breed zinnias as a hobby, and about ninety percent of my zinnias are discarded as I cull them to keep only my "breeders". I used to like striped zinnias for their novelty, and grew several strains. But the stripes started showing up where I didn't want them, and made my zinnias look like they had caught the "Tulip virus", so I stopped growing them. I think in zinnias, the stripes are genetic and not a disease, but my personal preference became "no stripes".

If you want double striped zinnias, try several different strains from several different suppliers, and save seeds from your favorite specimens, and ruthlessly discard the "crud". As a home gardener, you can do things with zinnias that would be completely unfeasible for commercial growers, and get some nice strains of fully double striped zinnias.

If there are any good zinnias in your current patch, you can start by saving seeds from them. If you see some good striped zinnias in a public park, you could save some seeds from them. Incidentally, a zinnia seedhead doesn't have to be completely brown to have viable seeds. I regularly save "green seeds" and either germinate them green, or dry them out for later use.

ZM

I'd say that if you've been getting the same results two years in a row, that the seeds are not the problem...unless, of course, they are the same batch of seeds.

If your native soil is extremely 'hostile', it is very difficult to add enough amendments to create a substantial improvement in one year. If you haven't already done so, I suggest that you contact your local extension office and find out about the procedures regarding soil testing. Knowing the facts about what you have to begin with is essential to making your improvements or amendments.

Is everything else doing OK for you?

From reading these posts, I wonder if seed is my problem. I ordered a package of Zahara Starlight Rose zinna seeds which were an All America winner. They were shown to have a beautiful rose ring. When my plants first started blooming I could see a very faint ring on some of them but as the summer has progressed they are now uniformly cream colored. Nice, sturdy heavily blooming plants but they look NOTHING like the pictures. Is this the seeds or the terribly hot, dry weather we are having or something else?

lovesphlowers,

Other people have reported the same thing with Zahara Starlight Rose, namely the absence or near-absence of the rose color at the base of the petals under some conditions. In this case, it probably is an environmental response of the Zahara Starlight Rose strain. It's not that the seeds are defective, it is just that the strain responds that way. I notice richer colors in nearly all of my zinnias with the approach of cooler temperatures. This zinnia was showing its "Fall colors" last Fall.

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The deep orange and yellow petals were not typical of its "plain orange" hot weather performance. The petal ends of this hybrid-of-hybrids zinnia specimen were enhanced by cool weather.

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Usually bi-color zinnias have the darker color at the base of the petals.

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My guess is that more stable bi-color Zaharas will be offered in the future, perhaps for 2011?

ZM