Hybridizers: It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 3, 0 by Zen_Man

Zen_Man wrote:
Lucy,

"Do all of that type fill in?"

Most of them do. The scabiosa flowered florets hold their color and last for several weeks, while the non-scabiosa flowered florets (the usual fuzzy yellow stars) wither and die after a day or two. I prefer the scabiosa florets for their longevity and they can be any color rather than just fuzzy yellow.

Occasionally the recombination of genes in various ways will create some unusual results in hybrids of hybrids. The flower in the attached picture is a case in point. It has a unique recombination of traits from Whirligig bi-colors and a mix of different scabiosa-like bi-colored petaloids to produce one of the most fantasy-like flower forms I have seen in a zinnia. I was actually startled when this thing bloomed out.

ZM