DH loves his zinnias. We save seed from year to year and I think he has a 5 gallon bucket full in the garden shed. I noticed this little one this morning. I think it is the most unique one I have seen bloom. If I save seed will grow with this mutation next year?
I asked Zen_Man from the hybridizer's forum to come take a look. He's a Zinnia guru.
My first guess was "chimera" where some mutation in "body cells" grew out into half of that bloom. I don't think that would be heritable. But I could very, very easily be wrong.
Your DH might be entertained by Zen_Man's thread in the Hybridizers forum titled: "It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 1" through Part 5. Some of his blooms look like an explosion in a paint factory. Some of his bloom forms look ... alien.
RickCorey thanks for the reference to Zen_Man's thread. Will have DH take a look at it. I just got through reading your comments on mat watering and wanted to add a few comments from experience. I have been growing African Violets for over 20 years. Started out using mats similar to what you describe except we always used old acrylic blankets rather than cotton to cut down on the mold issues. (The reason the medical world does not use cotton wound packing is because it promotes bacterial growth/infection) I would leave for a month to six weeks and found that didn't work well when gone for extended periods of time so advanced to using a plastic grid from florescent fixture to elevate pots. I would insert a piece of acrylic yarn through the hole in the bottom of the pot and drop it through one of the squares in the grid and then fill the tray with water. That would work until the water evaporated but when leaving for extended periods of time I found I had to place each wicked pot on top of a clear deli container that had a hole in the middle of the lid. (used a wood burning tool to make the hole) I would fill the container with water containing AV food and drop the wick through the hole in the lid and found I could leave for several months before they needed to be refilled. I have used the wick idea with my seed trays on both acrylic blanket mats and elevated on the plastic grids. It keeps from having to use the turkey baster/battery bulb ( I use a nasal bulb syringe) so frequently but do still check to be sure things are evenly moist.
Thanks for clarifying that "acrylic" is a good wick material. I'm impressed that you can go for 6 weeks unattended. My use is mainly to encourage me to NOT water every day!
I don't have to use a turkey baster often now that I've learned about how many "glugs" it takes to keep the mat "just wet". In fact, it soothes my over-watering fetish if I water the mat frequently but lightly.
I really agree about cotton getting moldy. Once I tried to use some matting material, and it really fell apart quickly.
I wonder whether acrylic felt and yarn are cheaper than used acrylic blankets.
Zen_Man said:
"You will occasionally see something similar to this in the Peppermint and Candy Cane zinnias. I don't recall seeing one in a nice clean half-and-half like that specimen. I kind of doubt that the seeds would produce very many half-and-half progeny, if any. My guess, and this is just a guess, is that the yellow side will produce yellow zinnias and the orange side will produce orange zinnias. Best chance for a two-color version would be the seeds at or near the border."
His subscription lapsed and he can't post in the "Saving Seeds" forum any more.
Thanks Rick, DH and I were talking about that this morning and that was our guess. Will see what happens with it next year. Hope Zen_Man renews his subscription. He has contributed a lot of interesting information.
I agree!
