Zinnia seeds look like little arrow heads or like flat sunflowers. Some might still be attached to the base of a petal. It’s best to sow zinnia seeds outdoors in early spring or summer, depending on your location, rather than starting them indoors, as they may produce single rather than double blooms if their roots are disturbed. The Complete Guide to Saving Seeds; Robert Edward Gough and Cheryl Moore-Gough, The New Seed Starter's Handbook; Nancy Bubel. You can use a thermos to keep the water hot. Place the packets inside a screw-top glass jar in your refrigerator until spring. However, seed saving requires a little planning if you want to make sure that your open-pollinated seeds remain pure, since zinnias can be cross-pollinated by insects from different varieties. You will have to put up with some unsightliness as you wait for the flowers to dry on your plants, but that's how you allow the seeds to ripen. Once done sifting to find the seeds go ahead and compost the material left over. The following zinnia varieties are open pollinated, meaning they will grow to look the same as the parent plants from which their seeds came: Allow the zinnia flower heads to dry completely on the plant. The Spruce uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Place the harvested seed heads on a screen so that they dry thoroughly on all sides. For best results, aim to use your seeds within three to five years. Place a paper plate on the area, and label the variety name directly on the plate with a marker. A former master gardener with a Bachelor of Arts in writing from Houghton College, Audrey Stallsmith has had three gardening-related mysteries published by WaterBrook Press, a division of Random House. If some of your plants are infected with mildew -- a grayish, powdery-looking mold on the leaves -- collect seeds from the ones that aren't, as they are obviously more disease-resistant. You should see seeds clinging to the ends of those petals. They are formed at the center of the head, at the end of the petals. Zinnias like well-fed soil, so some compost worked into the ground early in the season will give the soil an edge before it’s time to get the zinnia seeds or plants in the ground. Ravishing flowers look like crimson velvet laced with gold! Julie Thompson-Adolf is a master gardener and author with 13+ years of experience with year-round organic gardening, seed starting and saving, growing heirloom plants, perennials, and annuals, and sustainable and urban farming. join our gardening community on fb for more tips and tricks! After you have harvested the seeds, break them off of the brown flower petals and spread them on paper towels indoors for a few days. If you have a lot of space--like a farm--plant one variety per half-mile. Seeds from hybrid plants typically do not come true to the parent plant, so if you love a specific attribute of the zinnia, such as its double flowers or special colorings, you might be disappointed by the offspring of hybrid zinnias. Label each envelope, so you remember what's in it. For outdoor sowing, plant immediately after final frost date. Zinnias are annuals, so they grow for one season and make great cutting flowers. Keep the varieties separate. They have bright, solitary, daisy-like flowerheads on a single, erect stem. The seeds are small and arrow-shaped. Nothing completes a country bouquet like great zinnias. A closet is ideal. The full-sized plants are just a bit compact, and the generous yield of blooms makes this an especially good variety for cut flowers. After the seeds have dried, place them in a paper envelope or bag for storage. Depending on type, zinnias’ flowers are varied and range from round, double, pom-pom, cactus-shaped and can vary in size from 1 to 7 inches, while the plants grow from 4 inches to 4 feet tall. For a zinnia with a different look that resists powdery mildew valiantly, try growing the narrow-leaved Star Series or the Crystal Series, which tolerates drought and grows well from seed. Also, avoid watering the flower bed before harvesting seeds, or the seed heads will need more time to dry. Introducing "One Thing": A New Video Series, The Spruce Gardening & Plant Care Review Board, The Spruce Renovations and Repair Review Board, Basket or other container for harvesting flowers. Take a dry zinnia flower, and "flail" the seed head--hit it gently to release the seeds, or pull it apart or rub it between your fingers over the paper plate to release the seeds. Sep 30, 2020 - Zinnia flowers are one of the easiest plants grow, grow quickly, and bloom heavily. Repeat this process with all of your dried flowers, discarding the petals and only keeping the seeds. You can remove the rest of the flowers before they turn unsightly. Once you are sure they are completely dry, seal them up in paper coin envelopes or small zip-top plastic bags, labeling each packet with the zinnia type and the year they were harvested. Once the danger of frost has passed for the next growing season, you can sow your seeds outdoors. Seeds from open-pollinated plants, though, will grow true to the parent plant, so it makes sense to harvest those seeds. To harvest zinnia seeds, allow some of the best flowers to remain on the plants until their petals wither and turn brown. Spread out the seeds and let them air dry uncovered for a few days. Zinnia seeds are easy to direct seed into the garden, but may also be transplanted. Reliable, prolific, and hassle-free with a long vase life, Zinnias are excellent for cut flower production. Each seed will look like that. What does a zinnia seed look like? See more ideas about zinnias, zinnia flowers, plants.
You can use a thermos to keep the water hot. You also might have enough seeds that you could consider giving away some as gifts. You can even see a few seeds with the pink petals still attached. By using The Spruce, you accept our, Wait for the Zinnia Flowers to Dry Before Harvesting, How to Save Lettuce Seeds From Your Garden, How to Save Tomato Seeds to Grow Next Year, Seed Saving - Quick Tips for Saving Your Garden Favorites, How to Save Cucumber Seeds From Your Garden, Heirloom, Open-Pollinated, and Hybrid Seeds, How to Save Beans to Plant in Next Year's Garden. The seeds look like fuzzy or furry tiny arrowheads. Once done sifting to find the seeds go ahead and compost the material left over. Use garden snips to cut completely dried flower heads from healthy zinnia plants. The green seeds are not fully ripened and I doubt they will mature at this point. Moreover, if you have a large garden bed, you can opt to save seeds from plants away from the edge of the bed, so the drying flowers are less noticeable. The seeds of zinnia’s have a unique arrow shape. If you had to harvest seeds from mildewed plants, submerge them for a half hour in water that has been heated to 125 degrees Fahrenheit just before you plant them, to kill the fungus. You can even see a few seeds with the pink petals still attached. Taxonomy: Zinnia elegans x angustifolia Seed Type: Annual Sow Indoors or Outdoors: For earlier blossoms, start seeds indoors 5 – 8 weeks before transplanting outside. Instead, bag or cage several flower buds before they bloom to prevent accidental cross-pollination. Zinnias are among the quickest and easiest flowers from which you can harvest and save seeds. This may take up to a week, depending on the seed head and moisture level. 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