Hybridizers: It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 3, 1 by Zen_Man

Zen_Man wrote:
Arlan,

"I've been closely observing the plants from the Scabiosa mix. I see basically three types: Singles, intermediate Scabiosa with a few modified disk florets, and the completely Scabiosa types with all disk florets modified. I'm wondering if there are multiple factors involved or maybe an incomplete dominance type scenario or a combination of both."

Sorry for the delay in responding. Yes, I agree that multiple factors are involved in the scabiosa-type zinnia flower form. It is not a simple "on-off" type of thing. You can see both scabiosa florets and conventional florets in this recent scabiosa hybrid recombinant that appeared in my garden. It got the toothy guard petals from a toothy non-scabi ancestor and the two-toned color pattern from a Whirligig ancestor. I would much prefer that the center contained only the true scabiosa-type florets, but I will work with this one because of its combination of other traits.

ZM