Hi SweetMonkeyCheese,

I don't know about the crinkly foliage or broken colorations, but some zinnia varieties naturally change color as the blooms age. For example, click on this link: Burpee's Exquisite Zinnia

The crinkly foliage is a concern. I have never seen any thing like that in a zinnia. It could be a disease.

ZM

Oh ok, that makes sense, I have several types of Zinnia seeds without knowing what really knowing what makes them different or have a different name.

One of the plants in this grouping of Zinnia is doing just as your links says, it is a newer bloom so it just started to change colors.

Maybe the others are trying to make a smooth transition, but they just don't have it down yet (which is great! I love the effect)

It sure looks like the pictures I found of a zinnia mosaic virus! Yikes!

Google image search

Yes, the Zinnia Mosaic pictures are a close match. As with any virus disease in plants, there is no chemical control, and the usual advice is to remove and destroy affected plants. Oddly, they always seem to skip telling you how to "destroy" a plant. A compost pile is NOT the solution. I place my culled zinnia plants in a plastic bag and send them in the trash to our local landfill.

That is what I thought as they were growing, I figured they would not flower because of it, but they are doing great so far. My other bunch is having more fungus issues since so many of them sprouted and I could not bare to thin them out, but since we are in a severe drought it has not been too bad. I had told myself I would spray them with a funguside but never got around to it.

I know everything says to destroy the plant if it has a virus, but being in Florida, land of all the bugs it is one of the better looking flowers and I am so loving the color effect... Maybe my flower has a gene that helps keep the plant alive even though it has the virus. I am looking forward to collecting the seeds to see what happens!

Sweet, the mosaic virus that affects zinnia can be spread rapidly to other plants, and not only zinnias. I believe that aphids are the primary vectors of this disease, but the culprits may be other sucking insects such as leaf hoppers.

It is never a good idea to hang on to a virus infected plant, nor to save and sow its seed. The virus is carried in the seed and will be fully expressed in the next generation. It's not something that should be spread around. I know that you think it's pretty, but it can be deadly for some valuable food and ornamental crops. :-(

Sweet,

I agree 100% with Rhizo. Don't save seed from a virus infected plant, because the seeds will contain the virus. That is probably how you got the virus in the first place. You can get the same color-changing effect that these have from the Burpee Exquisite zinnias that I linked to. They are an heirloom variety, so you aren't limited to Burpee to get them. You could also get them from Eden Brothers or from Swallowtail Seeds or from any of several different sources.

ZM

I'd have to set fire to the whole back yard and the wild over grown field behind the house, even the Spanish Needles have splotchy leaves!

One zinnia at a time......

A photo or photos would be interesting.