Do you grow zinnias in your garden? I love growing zinnias in my cut-flower garden because they last so long in the vase and bloom so prolifically.
If you’ve never grown zinnias from seed before, I have a post about that here.
Zinnia seeds are abundant in the late summer and fall, and are easy to save for planting in future seasons!
Actually, one of my favorite fall garden tasks is saving seeds.
Why Save Seeds?
As a not-quite-homesteader, I look for ways to reduce buying new things for my garden, and seeds are an easy thing to collect myself.
I’m not only becoming more self-sufficient by saving seeds, but I’m also saving money and creating plants that are better adapted to my specific garden.
Over time, the seeds we save and replant from plants we grow in our own gardens year after year become more resilient to our individual growing conditions, pests, and diseases. If you have ever grown heirloom seeds from your area, you may find that they are the best plants in your garden. (Read about heirloom and hybrid seeds here.)
I just think that it is so cool that plants adapt in this way.
If I treat my plants well, they’ll reward me with seed babies that thrive and want to keep growing in my garden. Then those seed babies will grow up and have more happy seed babies!
So be good to your plants, and they will be good to you!
A Very Brief Botany Lesson on Zinnias
Zinnia seeds come from the flowers of zinnia plants, which are part of the Asteraceae family.
After zinnias bloom, they are pollinated by bees.
Pollen from the florets brush up against the stigmas to fertilize the flower and create seed.
The flower matures and produces seed heads filled with brown or gray seeds.
If you pull out the bottom petals on a zinnia like the one in the picture, there’ll be a seed attached!
To collect zinnia seeds, you can wait until the flower heads turn brown and dry out. Once they are dry, you can gently break them apart to harvest the seeds.
Zinnias are so prolific and so easy to grow. It’s why I recommend them in my list of 10 easy cut flowers for beginners.
Step 1: Choose your favorite zinnia flower.
Saving seeds starts at bloom time.
Once your plants are in full bloom, keep an eye out for the most beautiful and healthy looking flowers.
These are the ones you will want to save seeds from.
Choose flowers that have special characteristics that you like, such as color, unique form or petal shape, good stem length, bicolor, etc.
While you aren’t guaranteed to get this exact flower again next year, chances are much higher if that flower is the parent to your seed flowers.
Step 2: Let the flower mature.
Leave the flower on the plant to mature and dry out.
Cover the flower with mesh bag if you are worried birds will eat the seeds.
Zinnias need to be pollinated multiple times throughout the flower’s life for the highest number of seeds.
Step 3: Winnow the seeds.
Once your chosen flower is nice and brown and ry, gently crush the flower to release the dried petals and seeds.
I like to do this on a large tray so I don’t lose any of the seeds.
Discard the stem and center of the flower.
Separate the petals from the seeds by gently blowing the petals away.
You don’t have to separate the seeds and chaff perfectly, but they will store better without all the extra chaff.
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Step 5: Store the seeds.
Keep your precious zinnia seeds in a cool, dark, dry location.
I keep mine in these paper seed packets. I like that they are breathable, and it just makes for a nice presentation when I share seeds with friends.
It’s fine to keep seeds in a jar or zip-top bag. Just make sure the seeds are very dry before you put them away so that they do not mold.
You’ve done it! You’re saving seeds!
I have tips and ideas for storing seeds at the end of this post if you want to read more about that.
Breeding and Cross-Pollinating Zinnias
If you grow more than one variety of zinnia in your garden, you may find that the flowers cross-pollinated and created a new variety.
For example, I saved seeds from a Lilliput zinnia that was a pale peach color and was growing near other orange and pink Lilliput zinnias. When I planted the seeds this year, I got a range of colors and sizes like these.
Zinnia breeders will intentionally cross-pollinate flowers to select for certain traits that they want (i.e. long stems, a pastel color, ruffly leaves, a cupcake or cactus form).
I find zinnia breeding to be fascinating, and while I’m not sure I’m ready to tackle the project of breeding my own zinnias, maybe you are!
One of the best free resources I’ve found on zinnia breeding is (strangely enough) in the discussions section of Houzz, which I’ll link here.
There are hardly any books on zinnia breeding, but this one from Blomma Flower Farm should be very good. I haven’t been able to read it myself, but I hope to once I get more into the subject!
Let me know if you start breeding your own zinnias! I’d love to hear about it and see pictures of your zinnias.