Hi flowergirl,

OK, now I understand. That is unique. I have never seen that combination. Mostly the backside is a dull greenish mix of the topside color. A desirable variation on that is color-on-the-frontside and white-on-the-backside. I see that occasionally.

Backside color is particularly useful on my tubular-petaled zinnias, because the topside color only shows on the flare-out at the end of the tube, and the backside color is on the outside of the tube, which necessarily shows a lot in the bloom.

Some tubular petaled zinnias have very little flare-out, and for that reason the backside color is of prime importance.That condition is particularly critical when the tubes are very narrow in diameter.
Those last two tubular petaled zinnias could definitely benefit from better backside color. The first one had a reasonably white backside.

If you decide to save seeds from your orange-frontside/maroon-backside seedling, (and I recommend that you do so), then you will be breeding your own zinnias. In any case, you would be welcome to participate with comments, questions, and possibly posted zinnia pictures over in the It can be fun to breed your own zinnias message threads. You could get some tips on the best ways to save seeds from your favorite zinnias.

ZM