Hybridizers: It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 2, 1 by Zen_Man

Zen_Man wrote:
Hi all,

I have learned from experience that offsprings from hybrids involving scabiosa flowered zinnias result in a lot of single flowered recombinants, which I discard, but occasionally something promising turns up. The specimen in this attached picture has scabiosa genes and looks like it may develop into a good echinacea flowered bloom.

I like its long down-sloping petals and upstanding florets. Those florets are somewhat larger than average and I hope that, if I grow enough scabiosa flowered hybrids, that a lucky recombination of genes, or a mutation, or both, will result in a breakthrough to really large florets. Zinnia breeding involves technique and luck.

ZM