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The National Garden Bureau declares the year 2000 to be the year of the Zinnia. This announcement delighted me because I have long thought Zinnia deserved more recognition than they receive. Most gardeners are only familiar with Zinnia elegans. This week, I'd like to introduce you to the Zinnia family members.
The common garden Zinnia elegans is familiar to most gardeners. It comes in short, medium and tall heights and a wide range of colors. Pick up any garden catalog and you'll find seeds for many sizes and colors of Zinnia elegans. You can easily choose to do an all one color garden by using Zinnias . The only color you'd be lacking is a true blue. There is even a green Zinnia called Envy. Some varieties are called cactus flowered or dahlia flowered because of the general appearance of the flower. There are also single flowers which have just a single row of petals. The best Zinnias are the tetraploids which have 4 rather than 2 sets of chromosomes. This results in larger flowers, stronger stems, and improved resistance to disease. Zinnia angustifolia This Zinnia variety has narrow leaves and smaller, single flowers. I find it resists mildew easier than Zinnia elegans. Currently, this species comes in only orange and white. The orange species grows up to 2 feet tall and wide and the white variety is smaller. Since 'Crystal White' won the All America selection award in 1997, you're likely to find packets of seeds or flats of seedlings at most garden centers. Zinnia haageana This is also called the Mexican zinnia. It is probably the least known of the species grown by gardeners. These plants are very disease resistant. They grow to about 15 inches in height and have small, bicolored flowers. It is popular for cut flowers because of its long stems. One dwarf Zinnia haageana cultivar called 'Persian Carpet' won the All America selections award in 1952 and another, 'Old Mexico' won the award in 1962. Both these cultivars are available from Select Seeds Because of my love for being "different" from all my neighbors' gardens, I plan to order both these cultivars and the Peruvian Zinnia from Select Seeds. I am hoping that Monarch butterflies will find them useful as nectar plants. F1 Hybrids The first F1 hybrid zinnia was the Peter Pan series introduced in the 1970s. This resulted after a plant was found that had only female parts and no petals. It had to be cross-pollinated in order to form seeds. As I understand this, F1 hybrids are plants that do not produce seed which reproduces the same plant it came from. If I am incorrect in this, please email me at plantaholic@surfree.com so I may correct this information. Go To Page: 1 2
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