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

Zen_Man wrote:
Hello Lucy,

Wow! Prompt reply. It's been rainy here, too, which helps a lot of things grow. Since I am retired, I have had time to keep the weeds more or less under control. I didn't notice whether there were ants on the peonies here when they bloomed. It's too late to check on that now, because the peonies here finished their blooming season quite some time ago. As a group, perennials tend to be "one shots". However, I noticed that iris breeders and daylily breeders are producing some hybrids that have a repeat blooming season. I like zinnias because they tend to bloom continuously.

This is a picture taken yesterday of a bloom on the same plant that was pictured above, showing how zinnias continue blooming. Some specimens, like this one, do so without deadheading. Since I pollinate and save seeds from my breeders, they don't have the advantages of deadheading.

My outside garden is unfortunately in dappled shade with tight soil, and zinnias need full sun and well-drained soil. Some of my zinnias have simply succumbed to the shady conditions when I transplanted them outside, but this is one of several specimens that seem to tolerate the hostile conditions. Since I am breeding zinnias, I can rationalize my poor outdoor growing conditions where we are currently renting as a kind of "survival of the fittest" test.

Another unusual feature of this zinnia is the colored veins in the guard petals. I like that, because it is unusual. However, I don't think that all zinnias need colored veins in their petals.

ZM