The bottom picture contains the seeds; they look like arrowheads. You might want to try sprouting a few to make sure they are viable before giving them away.

Hi Maria,

Like Donna said, the bottom picture is what the seeds look like. Actually, there are two kinds of zinnia seeds, the petal seeds and the floret seeds. Some of each appear in that picture. The petal seeds have a part of the petal attached to them and the floret seeds have a kind of "notch" at that place.

The top picture has a lot of chaff, which is composed primarily of a zinnia flower part aptly called "chaffy scales." You can tell if a zinnia seed contains a developed embryo or not by gently pinching it between your thumb and forefinger. That takes a little practice.

You can also save zinnia seeds from live flower heads as green seeds -- that technique was discussed in the message thread Zinnia Seed Viability -- Zen_Man ?

ZM

These were just harvested off the plants yesterday.

Chaff removed ... How'd I do? I did pick through it an inch at a time while watching the latest episode of "The Handmaid's Tale" on HULU.

Thanks for your help.

Maria Elena

Hi Maria,

Good job! That is a lot of zinnia seeds. Actually, as part of my zinnia breeding hobby, I rather enjoy "shucking" zinnia seeds. I don't have HULU, but I do "daydream" while picking out the good seeds, and the time flies.

ZM