Hybridizers: It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 6, 2 by Zen_Man

Zen_Man wrote:
Glad you all like the Shaggy Dog. I like it too.

Hello GoPlantGo,

\" We tried some cactus zinnia this year, and plant to try some giant ones next year. \"

For a \"giant\" zinnia, you might want to try a few Giants of California, or California Giants as they are sometimes called. Their flowers are fairly large, but what is really \"giant\" about them is the height of their plants. The ones that I grew this year were about a foot taller than my Benary\'s Giants, which are also a large bloomed tall zinnia.

Some of the California Giants have spoon-shaped petals, which I like. It was Brenda who inspired me to go after the spoon-shaped petal look, with some of her specimens. To me, they look a lot more like dahlias than most of the so-called \"dahlia flowered\" zinnias. I am attaching a couple of pictures of my California Giants.

ZM