Can I direct sow zinnia seeds?

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SBounds2 Oklahoma City, OK(Zone 7a) Oct 22, 2014

My best friend's mother had some beautiful giant flowers I admired. I initially thought they might be dahlias, but she told me they were zinnias. She said "they come back every year" which I interpreted to mean they reseed. Anyway, she gave me some seeds. Can I simply direct sow them outside? If so, can I do it now, or should I wait until next spring after the last freeze? Do I need to soak them before planting?

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hcmcdole Powder Springs, GA(Zone 7b) Oct 23, 2014

Wait until spring. Water the ground if dry so you don't have to soak the seeds

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WeeNel Ayrshire Scotland, United Kingdom Oct 23, 2014

You really need to sew the seeds and await the true outcome of type of plants, when someone tells me the plants come back each year, I take that to mean the plants are Perennial's, However IF it is the case that the type of plant reseeds it'self I would expect to see the same plants spread further that the origonal plant, SOOOOO, your in for a great surprise one way or the other LOL.

Hope they are the plants you love as gifted plants from others are always more exciting, well I think so and they remind you always of the person you got them from and perhaps recalling the garden and conversation at the time.
Good luck and please let us know what the outcome was.
Best Regards.
WeeNel.

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Diana_K Contra Costa County, CA(Zone 9b) Oct 23, 2014

Zinnias are heat loving plants. Wait until next spring and it is starting to warm up. Do not plant them out too early.
You might start some indoors, just in case the outdoor seeding does not work.

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SBounds2 Oklahoma City, OK(Zone 7a) Oct 25, 2014

Thanks so much for your advice. I'll wait until next spring to plant them. That will give me more time to decide where I want them anyway.

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kittriana Magnolia, TX(Zone 9a) Nov 16, 2014

Mine got 9' tall this past year, every petal is a seed, once dried, but the moles ate a bunch before I got home, chuckle. Maybe this next year I will get some other colors and doubles from the seeds I didn't get planted. I sowed them in abt the full moon of March this padt year...

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memays Atlanta, GA(Zone 8a) Nov 17, 2014

I love zinnias - I planted 2 different varieties this last summer, one got really tall, and the other was a dwarf variety. The butterflies loved both of them and I'm planning to plant seeds that I saved next year, but I'm going to swap the positions of the tall and short ones.

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