i would have left it.. and saw what happened ...

all we can say at this point.. is that it is discolored ....

you might want to track down zenman the Z guru in the annuals forum.. not sure i ever saw him here ....

do they bloom all winter in z8? .. any cold events yet.. down your way???

ken

I thought about leaving it alone, but I didn't want to take any chances. 1st bud to blacken in this way. They bloom here until the first frost, which should be the middle of this month or later; and yes it has cooled down about 20 degrees over the past 2 weeks. Thank you ken for the info, I'll see if I can find zenman somewhere hereabouts

Scroll almost tot he bottom of this page to see a healthy zinnia bud with black tips:

http://hubpages.com/living/Growing-Annuals-from-Seed

Also. go here, then scroll about 1/4 down thepage

http://www.shutterstock.com/s/america+zinnia/search.html

zenman i referenced above has a post at the top in the annual forum ...

ken