Hello everyone,
I have grown zinnias off and on, at one time or the other, pretty much all of my life. I think I was in the sixth grade when I grew my first little zinnia garden, as a kid on a farm in northwest Oklahoma. There has been a lot of water under the bridge since then.
But it wasn't until 2005 when "the spirit moved me" to cross a scabiosa flowered zinnia with a cactus flowered zinnia, just out of curiosity about what I might get. I wasn't expecting anything much -- the scabiosa flowered blooms were only a little more than an inch across, and the cactus flowered parents were rather run-of-the-mill cactus zinnias. But to my surprise, I got some pretty unusual results.
The quality of that picture leaves something to be desired. In my defense, in 2005 I did not have a digital camera but I did have a Sony Digital 8 camcorder, so in order to take still pictures I would take a few seconds of video and then look through it for a reasonably good frame to use as my still picture. I used software to convert from video to still with as much quality as possible. This was another scabi-cactus hybrid that I really liked. Its enormous crested center reminded me of a sunflower.
This was another result of that cross. Its flower form reminded me of a marigold.
Those three zinnias, and a few other of my scabiosa x cactus hybrids, were totally unlike any zinnia I had seen before, and I was pretty sure you couldn't buy anything like them in a seed packet. I was amazed that I had some zinnias unlike anything that was available. I was hooked on breeding zinnias by that. That Winter I ordered a lot of zinnia seeds to make more crosses. I realized I would never be able to make all of the possible crosses. But I was committed to the hobby.
In subsequent messages here in this message thread I will bring you up to date on how my zinnia hobby has progressed in the intervening years. And where I am trying to go with it. And I will attempt to answer any questions you may have, and offer advice about zinnias in general.
I also welcome your comments on any subject remotely related to zinnias. More later.
ZM
