It's been a few years and I can't find the pics but it did do well and bloomed around June. From what I remember it did get a bit scrappy looking when it got hot and I just cut it back. You should get some nice blooms and some seeds for next year. Not sure where you are in PA but I'm in Philly/Bucks County area so we do get a bit warmer than those further North, they will last a little longer where it's a bit cooler.

Thank you. I am near Pittsburgh less than 2 miles from a ski resort. Because the mountains are so variable it is a lot colder at my house than it is at my workplace which is only 4 miles away.

Jai_Ganesha said:I ordered and received some of those blue species sweet peas. I only received 6 seeds so I want to do everything correctly and lose as few as possible.

Sweet peas are not my native language since I am originally from a hotter climate where they don't grow very well. But I have seen them growing here so I want to attempt it.

If I sow them now, in late winter, do I have to nick them first? Or is that only when I am sowing in spring?

The ground is still freezing so I would imagine that I should just put them in as they are and their seedcoat would be compromised naturally by the weather.

Just checking.

As it is native to Asia and East Africa I have never tried excessively cold germination and I have never had volunteer seedlings pop up in the spring. Cool germination works best - I soaked mine for 24 hours and put them in a pot about half an inch deep in an unheated greenhouse on Monday. Four seedlings poked up yesterday.

longk said:As it is native to Asia and East Africa I have never tried excessively cold germination and I have never had volunteer seedlings pop up in the spring. Cool germination works best - I soaked mine for 24 hours and put them in a pot about half an inch deep in an unheated greenhouse on Monday. Four seedlings poked up yesterday.

You are all so beyond my simple enjoyment of salvias and zinnias. But if the more interesting annuals can be gotten as seeds, I'm going to try some. I'm pretty good with starting seeds indoors.

If I get my true blue species sweet peas to grow well I plan to give away the seeds next season. So you can maybe try those too.

Yardenman said:

You are all so beyond my simple enjoyment of salvias and zinnias. But if the more interesting annuals can be gotten as seeds, I'm going to try some. I'm pretty good with starting seeds indoors.

What Salvia do you grow? I have quite a few myself.

I still have not been able to plant my Lathyrus sativus because first there was too much snow to dig through and now it's getting into the teens (below freezing) at night.

Eventually...

Same here Jack, I just got some new sweet peas in the mail. Last week it was spring like and now it's snowstorms and below freezing

longk said:What Salvia do you grow? I have quite a few myself.

I'm embarassed to say I don't keep seed packets once I run out of seeds. Hmm. OH, I do have old seedlists in a journal. This year I have Flare. 6 to 1 years ago, I grew Lady In Red. That's as far back as I have.

I'm really big on red salvias.

luvsgrtdanes said:Same here Jack, I just got some new sweet peas in the mail. Last week it was spring like and now it's snowstorms and below freezing

You will have better luck with the snow peas if you soak them a few hours and put them in a small container of vermiculite or fine starter soil several days to presprout. Once sprouted, plant them carefully to not harm the roots and leaf. The sprouted seeds can handle colder temperatures than germination requires.

I do that for beans, cukes, corn too. Most large seeds can be pushed 2 weeks early that way and you get earlier and more harvest..

Zinnias remain my favorite. This one is just now blooming out, indoors of course.

Click on the picture for a bigger view. It gets its bi-coloration from Whirligig ancestry, and its softer colors ffroml hybridization with other colors. I haven't decided what to cross it with yet.

ZM

It's beautiful on it's own.

Zen
This zinnia pix is spectacular. The color is outstanding. I grow a long row of zinnias from saved seeds year to year. When they bloom, I say its like opening a box of new crayons, so many brilliant colors.
P.S.: did you know we'll have a total eclipse Aug 21st, and you may be in the direct line of totality.

katesflowers said:I grow a long row of zinnias from saved seeds year to year. When they bloom, I say its like opening a box of new crayons, so many brilliant colors

Hi Kathy,

I too am very much taken by the extensive color range of zinnias. This is another of my current indoor blooms.

It has a conventional pink color, but its flower form is a bit different. I am breeding for different flower forms in my zinnias.

It is really easy to cross-pollinate zinnias. Since you are already saving zinnia seed, you could enhance the anticipation of seeing your zinnias open for the first time by making some of your very own home hybrids. I could post pictures on how to do it, if you don't already know and are curious.

katesflowers said:P.S.: did you know we'll have a total eclipse Aug 21st, and you may be in the direct line of totality.

I did not know that. I will make a note of that on my calendar.

ZM

Zen - yes I am interested in cross pollinating. Show me more !
Thanks for the offer !

katesflowers said:Zen - yes I am interested in cross pollinating. Show me more !
Thanks for the offer !

Voila: The thread "It can be fun to breed your own zinnias." in Annuals forum

katesflowers said:Zen - yes I am interested in cross pollinating. Show me more !

Hi Kathy,

Basically, you just rub a pollen bearing floret on one or more stigmas. It takes only a single pollen grain to fertilize a stigma and the pollen florets contain quite a few pollen grains, so it is possible to fertilize several stigmas with a single pollen floret.

You will need something to grasp the pollen florets, and that can be a pair of tweezers, the twissors that they sell in drugstores to pluck eyebrows, or forceps. Hobby stores usually stock inexpensive forceps. Just use whatever is handy, or purchase a pair of whatever you feel comfortable using. I use both tweezers and forceps, depending on whatever is handy. I actually have a pair of twissors, but apparently I have misplaced them. The pollen florets and stigmas are labeled in this picture.

You can use forceps (or tweezers or twissors) to pick a pollen floret and use it like a brush to apply pollen to stigmas.

You can also use an artist's brush to dab in some pollen on a pollen floret and then touch stigmas to transfer the pollen.

Zinnias put out new petals with stigmas and new pollen florets nearly daily, so you may find it effective to do pollinations on several successive days. The pollen florets emerge in the morning, the exact time depending on the local weather. You may want to get an early start to have access to the pollen before the bees show up.

As Kai suggested, there is a dedicated message thread here in the Annuals forum titled "It can be fun to breed your own zinnias" which discusses various aspects of the subject. It is a fascinating hobby for me. There is an older, longer thread by the same title over in the GardenWeb Annuals forum. That was the original thread.

Il'll be glad to try to answer any questions you have on this subject.

ZM

I have 35 seedlings of Zinnia Flare growing well, and cant wait to see them in full bloom 2 months from now.

My favourites that I grow each year from seed collecting are Nicotiana, Four o clocks (limelight), Petunias and lots of them, Castor Beans, Zinnias (plants were not in seed when frost hit so none this year). From cuttings my favourites are Pelargoniums, some Begonias

j52 said:My favourites that I grow each year from seed collecting are ... Zinnias (plants were not in seed when frost hit so none this year).

Hi j52,
Welcome to the National Gardening Association's Annuals forum.

I am a zinnia hobbyist and make my own home hybridized zinnias. There is a popular misconception that zinnias need to be dead and brown before you can collect seed from them. Actually, you can collect a zinnia seed as a green seed about three weeks after it is pollinated. That can speed up the zinnia seed collection process by months.

The viable green seeds will be plump and filled in, while the un-pollinated ones will be slim and "empty".

All of the photos here on NGA will respond with a larger version if you click on them. Give it a try. Notice that the attached petals are still alive and have their full coloration. If you plan to store the seeds for use at a later time, spread them out on a paper or some other handy surface and let them dry for a week or so before packaging them. (If you package them wet, they might sprout in the package.)

If you want to plant them immediately, you will need to "breach" the green seed coat before planting. The green seed coat is alive and impervious to water. You can skip the breaching step and just plant them immediately with the green coat on (and optionally even with the petal still attached) and in two or three weeks the green seed coat will die and become pervious to water. But you can speed the green seed germination by several weeks by breaching the seed coat. Several techniques for breaching the green seed coat are shown in this photo.

As a zinnia hobbyist I find it to be very helpful to get more than one generation of zinnias per year. Saving zinnia seeds in the green stage has other advantages. You reduce the danger of pre-germination of the seeds in the seed head during a wet rainy spell, and you reduce the window of danger from seed eating birds, like finches and such.

If you are curious what it would be like to make crosses between different flowers and see what the results will look like, zinnias have several advantages. They have a wide color range and variety of plant habits, they bloom quickly from seed in about six weeks, their seeds are big and easy to handle, and the zinnia flower parts are easy to manipulate to make your own hybrids.

If you have questions about any of this, I would be glad to have a go at answering them. Plant breeding can be a fascinating hobby and zinnias can be an easy way to get into it.

ZM