any recommendations? Thanks.

Hi Ellen,

Perhaps you could provide a few details about what you are wanting in your zinnias. Hazzard's is a company that caters to commercial growers as well as home gardeners, and this is page one of their zinnia seed offerings.

http://www.hazzardsgreenhouse....

Swallowtail doesn't have the wide range of zinnias that Hazzard's does, but they are a good seed company with a reasonable selection of zinnias.

https://www.swallowtailgardens...

GeoSeeds caters to commercial growers but also sell to home gardeners who can use larger quantities of seeds. They have a very wide selection of zinnia seeds.

http://www.geoseed.com/

GeoSeeds do not have an online store (but they do have an online catalog), but you can order from their catalog, or probably also over the telephone. Except for the front and back cover, their catalog does not have any pictures.

Stokes Seeds also carry zinnias, and they allow you to purchase seeds in larger-than-packets amounts if you wish.

https://www.stokeseeds.com/us/...

Johnny's Selected Seeds cater to both home gardeners and market gardeners.

https://www.johnnyseeds.com/se...

At one time or another I have purchased zinnia seeds from all of the sources listed and linked above, and would not hesitate to buy from them again.

ZM (not associated with any product or vendor mentioned or linked)

Although not a huge variety as some other sites, try Sampleseeds.com for seeds. Remy sells smaller packs of seeds for a really reasonable price.

One of my favorite varieties (although not at sampleseeds) is the Come and Cut Again-- nice variety of colors that just keep blooming.

Ellen, I go with Wildseed Farms, you can find them under a website of the same name.

There, you can buy them in bulk. I usually buy several pounds of them.

Select Seeds has a nice selection available in separate colors (mixes, too, if you like.)
https://www.selectseeds.com/Se...

@ZenMan

So I have some old Zinnia seed, say three years old. Don't really care if they sprout but instead of tossing them, I mixed all the seed together and put them in a seed starting tray. If they come up, they come up. Here's my question that you might be able to answer. I carefully opened the packages as the company that I bought them from were very scarce with the seeds. If the package said 25, you were LUCKY if you got 25 seeds. The packages were already opened. So I emptied the first package into a container. The seeds were flat and slightly oblong with a tapered point. Second package the seeds were the same. The third package is what surprised me. It had two different shaped seeds, the flat and slightly oblong, AND some that were tiny little spheres, like onion seeds. I thought it was odd and thought I'd ask if you might know what was going on. My thought was the tiny spheres were in the flat oblong husks, but it really looked like the spheres were thicker than the oblong seeds.

Hi Thomas,

What color were/are the tiny spheres? I don't know of any spherical zinnia seeds. Although, they do come in a great variety, at least for me. Including some that look very much like mouse dabs, but aren't. The spheres could have been something to help keep the seeds dry.

ZM

Hey Zen - Pretty dark. I'd say black. Looked like seeds.

Hi Thomas,

Well, "round shape" rules out mouse dabs, and "near black" rules out any desiccant I am familiar with. It will be interesting to see what thing, if anything, emerges in the germination process.

ZM

ZenMan said:Hi Thomas,

Well, "round shape" rules out mouse dabs, and "near black" rules out any desiccant I am familiar with. It will be interesting to see what thing, if anything, emerges in the germination process.

ZM

Yeah.. what thing if anything.

@ZenMan

So those seeds started sprouting. I have no clue if any of the round "seeds" sprouted. I'm actually quite surprised how many of them sprouted. They are the first in the tray to sprout. I was gonna toss them since they were three years old and had a poor germ rate.

Hi Thomas,

" I was gonna toss them since they were three years old and had a poor germ rate. "

You can expect zinnia seeds to be good for 5 to 6 years under normal room storage conditions.

https://www.clearcreekseeds.co...

ZM

Hey @ZenMan

Well I did a germination test and one out of ten seeds came up. The seed packets are only three years old that's why I said what the heck and mixed them altogether and seeded them in a tray instead of tossing them. Man did they sprout! I'll have to take a pic and post it to see if we can tell what those black round "seeds" were. I've been sick the last four-five days and lost over half my plants but the zinnia tray survived. I haven't looked closely enough to see if I can tell a difference in the seedlings yet. If so I'll prick them out accordingly.

@ZenMan

What kind of germination rate do you get with the zinnia seeds from that company you recommended? I sowed all 25 of 2 varieties and a lot of the third variety in the same seed tray. The variety that I got 50? seeds for germinated really well. Didn't count because I was happy with the germ rate. One of the varieties that had 25 seeds 17/32 sprouted. I like where they gave a few extra. That isn't the best germ rate but I don't know the average germ rate for Zinnia. The third packet of 25 seeds had 25 seeds. (I had a bad experience with another vendor so yes I count the seeds in the packet when they are that expensive and few. Six out of 25 seeds sprouted. I'm giving them a few more days but the seeds started sprouting a week ago so I don't hold out much hope.

So first time zinnia starter here. Seems like the third packet is off par, but I'm not sure what par is.

Hi Thomas,

" What kind of germination rate do you get with the zinnia seeds from that company you recommended? "

I didn't recommend a "that company" to you, or to anyone for that matter. I provided links for five seed companies to Ellen's inquiry in the first message here in this message thread.

" ...but I don't know the average germ rate for Zinnia. "

Some seed companies print the results of a germination test on their individual seed packets. Seed companies try to package seeds with a germination rate of about 80 percent, but they don't have any control over what happens to a seed packet after they ship. Most companies will respond in some way to complaints about their seeds, with a replacement or a refund.

" Six out of 25 seeds sprouted. I'm giving them a few more days but the seeds started sprouting a week ago so I don't hold out much hope. "

Zinnias typically germinate in 2 to 6 days in good conditions (temperature and moisture). I have had a few "odd balls" take as much as 3 weeks, but that is freakish and not typical. I will occasionally have a "volunteer" zinnia come up on its own in the Spring. Its seed survived in the ground in the garden throughout the Winter and so its germination time was several months under really bad conditions. I treat those volunteer zinnias as potential "breeders" (I breed zinnias as a hobby) because of their impressive survival.

ZM

ZenMan said:
I didn't recommend a "that company" to you, or to anyone for that matter. I provided links for five seed companies to Ellen's inquiry in the first message here in this message thread.

Some seed companies print the results of a germination test on their individual seed packets. Seed companies try to package seeds with a germination rate of about 80 percent, but they don't have any control over what happens to a seed packet after they ship. Most companies will respond in some way to complaints about their seeds, with a replacement or a refund.

Zinnias typically germinate in 2 to 6 days in good conditions (temperature and moisture). I have had a few "odd balls" take as much as 3 weeks, but that is freakish and not typical. I will occasionally have a "volunteer" zinnia come up on its own in the Spring. Its seed survived in the ground in the garden throughout the Winter and so its germination time was several months under really bad conditions. I treat those volunteer zinnias as potential "breeders" (I breed zinnias as a hobby) because of their impressive survival.

ZM

Fair enough on the recommendation. I wasn't trying to point a finger or anything. I was just not wanting to mention seed company.

Ok well then I suspect something happened to that packet of zinnia seeds. They all came in the same envelope and were exposed to the same exact conditions, same potting soil mixture, same watering, lighting, etc. I wanted to see what your experience was with germination rates and time before contacting company. Thanks for the info.