For people like me, that are older and disabled, this video is a blessing. I had no idea it would be this easy to grow flowers without getting down on the ground and digging. I'm on this right away! I love flowers but just cannot physically garden anymore. This looks like something that will bring me a lot of joy.
@@ahwheen I did and my tables are covered in beautiful vases of flowers now. We are enjoying the profusion of colors so much. Having flowers near by elevates the quality of life!
Me too! at 77 with a back broken in 3 places, it is impossible to dig holes with a shovel....so I cheat. I just buy potting soil and scarify the ground, throw the seeds down, and slightly cover them with potting soil. It works, but I love to hear how others do 'shortcuts' in labor and money-saving tips!
Us oldies need more videos showing us how to continue with our passion as we age. Or for gardeners of different abilities. I have never grown zinnias but have fallen for them big time.
My zinnias went insane this year and I’ve no complaints. They’ve been blowing and propagating all over my property. I also let my basil seed heavily and just tossed them all over. As they grow and I mow my yard it smells incredible. I own a landscape company and I pulled all my decorative high maintenance plants and started foodscaping. If it doesn’t feed me I don’t need it. I raise chickens and a tip I can give you that works is add various seeds like tomato, melons and cucumbers and everywhere the birds “drop” you get amazingly well fertilized volunteer plants.
I appreciate your garden style because I too prefer to toss things and bless them to nature. 😂 Zinnias were the first cut flower I ever grew and they are basically bulletproof…aside from powdery mildew if they’re too crowded.
I put Zinnia plants in for the first time this past summer and at the end of October and I still have many blooms! I will use your advice! Thank you! 🌸🌺🌻🌷🌹
Another great thing about growing Zinnia's is they are not liked AT ALL by deer or other small animals that will eat sunflowers all day long. I use no fencing or barrier and my Zinnia's remain untouched by our large deer population of NC.
Thanks for the encouragement! Mine just haven't been cooperating 😢 But I shall continue to toss with wild abandon --especially remembering how stunning they were last year 🌸
I've never heard of this before (I'm new to seed-saving though.) Could you please share with me why you should save the largest flower heads? Thank you! 🌿🙂🌿
@@nostromo7928 The largest blooms are often the strongest, most vibrant and will produce - generally - more viable seeds. Choose the largest blooms of those who you want to keep, and let the flower and stalk completely dry out, prior to harvesting seeds.
Not a fan of zinnias. But this year I planted 4 plants from my neighbour, and only 2 survived. 1 is dark pink and the other is red and now I'm hooked. Today is October 4/23, but the flowers are not dried yet, hoping can collect before winter. My question is can I spread seeds on the ground during winter (Zone 5A/Canada) or do it in spring.
Mine were so pretty but they ended up getting some spotted fungus???I used neem oil but it wasn't very effective.I did dead head and have saved my seeds.
I appreciate the video. This is my first year growing zinnias and I love them. The more I cut them the more they grow and they last for 10-14 days in a vase. My question is will the seeds from a red zinnia grow red zinnias? I'm gonna find out in the spring as I am saving seeds from the best flowers and replanting. Thanks for the great video again. Got my flowers drying out as we speak. I'm gonna plant some seeds tomorrow here in Cocoa, Fl. and see how they do this time of year. Thanks and Merry Christmas! Sincerely, Kevin K
There's a chance you could get some weird, not-as-pretty hybrids, but overall, a red flower should produce seeds for more red flowers. Merry Christmas!
Butterflies love them too, and goldfinches. If the seeds are white they are not fertile, don't plant them. Should be dark brown. I didn't like the purple so I didn't save those. I have from red to burgundy and pink. All shades of gold to pale yellow. Oranges galore. Sometimes ombre red orange yellow. I had a monarch last November, northern illinois. I started with dwarf variety but they didn't stay dwarf. Getting to 3 feet high in full sun. Collect before the frost for color selection. After frost they all turn dark burnt orange.
I did cut the flowers off about a month and a half ago so my question is to store them for winter do I leave them in the dried flowers or take them apart ?
Great video! I can't seem to find online, will Zinnia seeds survive a cold winter, stored outside in a shed? I know the plants aren't frost tolerant but what about the seeds? If you let the plants die in early winter and the flowers fall, will the plants reseed themselves each year?
I’m zone 7b - 8a. My zinnias come back from the seed heads that I toss on the ground. They survived 18” of snow one year. -6° another year. I do save some seeds just in case we have a really crazy winter. My impatiens come back every year as well.
Thank you for sharing this! I absolutely LOVE growing Zinnias, but as a beginner need lots of tips like these! 2 questions: do you have to wait longer than it takes for the bloom to dry or can this be done as soon as it is dry (before frost time of course) ? Also wondering if Snap Dragon blooms could be dried like this as well for their seeds? Thank you again for sharing your talent! ❤
I’m not 100% sure about snapdragons but I’m betting the answer would be yes! We have had tons of marigolds te bloom like here and we have even had zinnias, bluebonnets and impatiens do this too… it never hurts to try!!
After a snapdragon blooms, it will produce seed pods. They're tan, about the size of a pea, and they have lots of very very small black seeds inside. If you don't leave the flower on the plant I don't think it'll develop. My snapdragons bloomed twice this year, I didn't cut any blooms but I did take the first set of seedpods off when they were fully dried.
I've gardened like this my entire life (63). I only allow them to dry, if I have too many seeds, and share them. I deadhead, drop the seed, use my shoe to cover with soil. Gardening is not difficult, and it doesn't have to be expensive ~ share and receive. Community.
I cut them and then once the are fully dried out I just throw the pod back down in the bed and they produce more the same growing season and also the next. I have also watched them grow more from the birds spreading them in my garden. I had Zinnias come up in another bed a good bit away - it had to be a bird that spread the seed!!
Can any flower that is grown from seed be dried in this way and the seeds replanted? Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience, particularly when prices have risen so high for buying seeds, plants and gardening in general.
Not all. Several hybrid varieties of plants produce sterile seeds and cannot be propagated in this manner. But many other do- marigolds are another than you easily save seed from existing flowers in your garden, also foxglove, poppy, nasturtium, as well as, many herbs, fruits and vegetables. I love to save seeds from cilantro, dill, arugula, lettuce, spinach and kale (although it’s a biennial so it only makes seeds in the 2nd year) Although, tomatoes and squash/cucumbers and some others will cross pollinate with other types of the same genus and can cause weird hybrids from the plants you grew from your own seeds. It’s so fun to save your own seeds
pretty much yes, I have been harvesting seeds from my plants for years, I store each variety in a little tub with labels on and keep them in a cool dry attic space until march when I start the sowing process. Some outside, some inside. If I have a new flower I don't know what the seed looks like, I google lol
If you like one color and variety, take an organza bag and put it around a bud, when it starts to produce pollen, take the little Florette and rub it into the steam underneath each petal. This way will produce the same color. Otherwise you will get a mystery color from bees pollinating other zinnias.
I started growing Zinnias for the first time after watching a Gardenary video last year. My question is this: in the winter, should I cut back the brown/ dead plants or dig them out and reseed or something else?
You could cut the plants off at the base, leaving the roots to breakdown and add to the soil, as well as planting with something else. You can plant a cover crop which enhances the soil, and is cut and left to die and breakdown, or plant with whatever is able to grow in your area! I like interplanting food crops with flowers, and growing cold loving crops through the winter where I would not ally have flowers! Cheers! Feed that soil! Don't till like crazy, and don't rip out roots.
Can't save seeds if growing multiple varieties right? Also if you are also cutting the flowers, when should you stop cutting and leave flowers to go to seed?
Any tips on how to keep Japanese beetles from decimating my zinnias and cosmos? A bloom doesn't even make it 24 hours before being destroyed by those pesky bugs!
Oh no! Besides hand-picking them or bumping them into some soapy water, I'd say try to invite more birds into your space to eat them. Do you have a little bird bath?
They sure do! But in my experience about 80% look like the parent. I get a weird looking one sometimes that I don't recognize but that's kinda cool 😊 I feel like a scientist LOL
I started with 1 zinnia mix packet about a decade ago, saved and remixed the seeds every year, planting en masse each Spring. The collection has grown spectacularly through cross pollination! This year, some big as saucers and many with 2-3 hued petals. I have every color of the rainbow in all shapes and sizes, it's just amazing! Now, I'm sorting their Fall seeds for more deliberate planting in Spring. My 3 favorites this year were a pink-white-peach pompom, a jumbo dark crimson, and a single row of petals in BLUE with a tiny purple hat on its cone.
For people like me, that are older and disabled, this video is a blessing. I had no idea it would be this easy to grow flowers without getting down on the ground and digging. I'm on this right away! I love flowers but just cannot physically garden anymore. This looks like something that will bring me a lot of joy.
Did you plant some?
@@ahwheen I did and my tables are covered in beautiful vases of flowers now. We are enjoying the profusion of colors so much. Having flowers near by elevates the quality of life!
Me too! at 77 with a back broken in 3 places, it is impossible to dig holes with a shovel....so I cheat. I just buy potting soil and scarify the ground, throw the seeds down, and slightly cover them with potting soil. It works, but I love to hear how others do 'shortcuts' in labor and money-saving tips!
Us oldies need more videos showing us how to continue with our passion as we age. Or for gardeners of different abilities. I have never grown zinnias but have fallen for them big time.
My zinnias went insane this year and I’ve no complaints. They’ve been blowing and propagating all over my property. I also let my basil seed heavily and just tossed them all over. As they grow and I mow my yard it smells incredible. I own a landscape company and I pulled all my decorative high maintenance plants and started foodscaping. If it doesn’t feed me I don’t need it. I raise chickens and a tip I can give you that works is add various seeds like tomato, melons and cucumbers and everywhere the birds “drop” you get amazingly well fertilized volunteer plants.
Hummingbirds like Zinnias too..💞
I appreciate your garden style because I too prefer to toss things and bless them to nature. 😂
Zinnias were the first cut flower I ever grew and they are basically bulletproof…aside from powdery mildew if they’re too crowded.
This will be my first year that I'm harvesting zinnia seeds. And I'm so excited for next
I had terrible luck with growing zinnias last year but I am going to try again.
Love the sweet little butterflies 🦋
I put Zinnia plants in for the first time this past summer and at the end of October and I still have many blooms! I will use your advice! Thank you!
🌸🌺🌻🌷🌹
Another great thing about growing Zinnia's is they are not liked AT ALL by deer or other small animals that will eat sunflowers all day long. I use no fencing or barrier and my Zinnia's remain untouched by our large deer population of NC.
Thank you for sharing. Blessings be upon you. I smiled at watching this. 🙏🏼☺️
God is so generous!
i do the same with marigolds, petunias, snaps, sunflowers it's great isn't it???
Thanks for the encouragement! Mine just haven't been cooperating 😢 But I shall continue to toss with wild abandon --especially remembering how stunning they were last year 🌸
Thank you for sharing. I would like to know where you purchased the tool in your hand in this video?
Wonderful information, thanks for sharing.
I love zinnia flower 🌼 🌸
It is beautiful
I’m going to try this. We still have at least 60 days here. Mine this year we’re so sad. Never got more than 8 inches tall.
That’s the way I was going to plant my seeds also. I’m sure many will grow & may have to thin them out. Thanks for your video. Very informative! 9:18
Love This Method. Thankyou for sharing. You might want to mention that it's best to also save some of the largest blooms.
I've never heard of this before (I'm new to seed-saving though.) Could you please share with me why you should save the largest flower heads? Thank you! 🌿🙂🌿
@@nostromo7928 The largest blooms are often the strongest, most vibrant and will produce - generally - more viable seeds.
Choose the largest blooms of those who you want to keep, and let the flower and stalk completely dry out, prior to harvesting seeds.
Thank you ~ Love your way of freedom planting!
Love your video!! Zinnias my favorite flower in the summer ❤
Oh My That Is So Awesome!!! Thank You. I Really Love How You Garden. I Am Learning So Much. I Am Inspired! I So Thank You For That.
Just wondering if you can tell me where you bought the tool that you have in your hand when you’re moving the dirt around.
I know the longer the bloom is left on the plant the seeds will form. How long do I leave them before deadheading to get the seeds?
I'd like to know this also?
Thanks for posting this. It's very very helpful 🎉❤
Not a fan of zinnias. But this year I planted 4 plants from my neighbour, and only 2 survived. 1 is dark pink and the other is red and now I'm hooked. Today is October 4/23, but the flowers are not dried yet, hoping can collect before winter. My question is can I spread seeds on the ground during winter (Zone 5A/Canada) or do it in spring.
So enlightening.
Excellent 👍🏼good video 📹 ty!
Mine were so pretty but they ended up getting some spotted fungus???I used neem oil but it wasn't very effective.I did dead head and have saved my seeds.
I appreciate the video. This is my first year growing zinnias and I love them. The more I cut them the more they grow and they last for 10-14 days in a vase. My question is will the seeds from a red zinnia grow red zinnias? I'm gonna find out in the spring as I am saving seeds from the best flowers and replanting. Thanks for the great video again. Got my flowers drying out as we speak. I'm gonna plant some seeds tomorrow here in Cocoa, Fl. and see how they do this time of year. Thanks and Merry Christmas! Sincerely, Kevin K
There's a chance you could get some weird, not-as-pretty hybrids, but overall, a red flower should produce seeds for more red flowers. Merry Christmas!
awesome, thank you for sharing
Thank you 🌿
Butterflies love them too, and goldfinches. If the seeds are white they are not fertile, don't plant them. Should be dark brown. I didn't like the purple so I didn't save those. I have from red to burgundy and pink. All shades of gold to pale yellow. Oranges galore. Sometimes ombre red orange yellow. I had a monarch last November, northern illinois. I started with dwarf variety but they didn't stay dwarf. Getting to 3 feet high in full sun. Collect before the frost for color selection. After frost they all turn dark burnt orange.
I did cut the flowers off about a month and a half ago so my question is to store them for winter do I leave them in the dried flowers or take them apart ?
Great video! I can't seem to find online, will Zinnia seeds survive a cold winter, stored outside in a shed? I know the plants aren't frost tolerant but what about the seeds? If you let the plants die in early winter and the flowers fall, will the plants reseed themselves each year?
Hi there! Zinnias will reseed themselves. It's best to keep seeds somewhere cool, dry, and dark, so a shed is usually not the best place.
I’m zone 7b - 8a. My zinnias come back from the seed heads that I toss on the ground. They survived 18” of snow one year. -6° another year. I do save some seeds just in case we have a really crazy winter. My impatiens come back every year as well.
hello.. please let me know why my zinnia leaves starting to curl?
Thank you for sharing this! I absolutely LOVE growing Zinnias, but as a beginner need lots of tips like these! 2 questions: do you have to wait longer than it takes for the bloom to dry or can this be done as soon as it is dry (before frost time of course) ? Also wondering if Snap Dragon blooms could be dried like this as well for their seeds? Thank you again for sharing your talent! ❤
I’m not 100% sure about snapdragons but I’m betting the answer would be yes! We have had tons of marigolds te bloom like here and we have even had zinnias, bluebonnets and impatiens do this too… it never hurts to try!!
After a snapdragon blooms, it will produce seed pods. They're tan, about the size of a pea, and they have lots of very very small black seeds inside. If you don't leave the flower on the plant I don't think it'll develop. My snapdragons bloomed twice this year, I didn't cut any blooms but I did take the first set of seedpods off when they were fully dried.
I've gardened like this my entire life (63). I only allow them to dry, if I have too many seeds, and share them. I deadhead, drop the seed, use my shoe to cover with soil. Gardening is not difficult, and it doesn't have to be expensive ~ share and receive. Community.
I cut them and then once the are fully dried out I just throw the pod back down in the bed and they produce more the same growing season and also the next. I have also watched them grow more from the birds spreading them in my garden. I had Zinnias come up in another bed a good bit away - it had to be a bird that spread the seed!!
Can any flower that is grown from seed be dried in this way and the seeds replanted?
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience, particularly when prices have risen so high for buying seeds, plants and gardening in general.
Not all. Several hybrid varieties of plants produce sterile seeds and cannot be propagated in this manner. But many other do- marigolds are another than you easily save seed from existing flowers in your garden, also foxglove, poppy, nasturtium, as well as, many herbs, fruits and vegetables. I love to save seeds from cilantro, dill, arugula, lettuce, spinach and kale (although it’s a biennial so it only makes seeds in the 2nd year)
Although, tomatoes and squash/cucumbers and some others will cross pollinate with other types of the same genus and can cause weird hybrids from the plants you grew from your own seeds. It’s so fun to save your own seeds
pretty much yes, I have been harvesting seeds from my plants for years, I store each variety in a little tub with labels on and keep them in a cool dry attic space until march when I start the sowing process. Some outside, some inside. If I have a new flower I don't know what the seed looks like, I google lol
If you like one color and variety, take an organza bag and put it around a bud, when it starts to produce pollen, take the little Florette and rub it into the steam underneath each petal. This way will produce the same color. Otherwise you will get a mystery color from bees pollinating other zinnias.
Zinnias are the best!!!
Hello. I'm new here and I have a few zinnias I'd like to replant next year. Really know nothing about flowers
Do zinnias need a lot of sun? I have an oak tree in the yard so the area is it sunny all day. Thanks. Great info.
At least 6 hours of sun
@@raulortiz4782 thanks
Thanks
Thank you
I started growing Zinnias for the first time after watching a Gardenary video last year. My question is this: in the winter, should I cut back the brown/ dead plants or dig them out and reseed or something else?
You could cut the plants off at the base, leaving the roots to breakdown and add to the soil, as well as planting with something else. You can plant a cover crop which enhances the soil, and is cut and left to die and breakdown, or plant with whatever is able to grow in your area! I like interplanting food crops with flowers, and growing cold loving crops through the winter where I would not ally have flowers! Cheers! Feed that soil! Don't till like crazy, and don't rip out roots.
Can you get seeds from the middle part of the zinnia too
Thanks that’s awesome
Great video! Thanks!
Does does this work with marigolds as well?
Yep! Marigold seeds are super easy to save
I've been saving marigold seeds that mom saved, and grandma saved.
Would you do this at the end of summer or in spring?
End of summer to save seeds, scatter then or wait for spring. The seeds can overwinter in the soil.
Do the seeds remain true color to their parent flower?? For all brands and types of Zinnias?
They should
I just subscribed to your channel!!
Do you pull the whole plant up in fall each year?
You could leave the plants over winter if you don't mind the flower heads dropping wherever. I do a fall clean up and pull annuals
Can't save seeds if growing multiple varieties right? Also if you are also cutting the flowers, when should you stop cutting and leave flowers to go to seed?
You can still save seeds but the varieties will mix so it won't be the same . But they are still zinnias.
Hay you forgot about the Hummingbirds they like them to.
If in Zone 7, it is probably best to wait to plant Zinnia seeds until after all frost is gone. That is mid to late May.
Any tips on how to keep Japanese beetles from decimating my zinnias and cosmos? A bloom doesn't even make it 24 hours before being destroyed by those pesky bugs!
Oh no! Besides hand-picking them or bumping them into some soapy water, I'd say try to invite more birds into your space to eat them. Do you have a little bird bath?
What zone are you in?
Important info to know…
How long do Zinnias live?
They're annuals, so just until your first frost. If you live somewhere warm, you can have them around for most of the year.
Don't Zinnias cross pollinate? 😄 love the carefree planting!!😆🥰
They sure do! But in my experience about 80% look like the parent. I get a weird looking one sometimes that I don't recognize but that's kinda cool 😊 I feel like a scientist LOL
@@ek5384 thanks! This is what I have needed to know! Someone speaking from full experience.
I started with 1 zinnia mix packet about a decade ago, saved and remixed the seeds every year, planting en masse each Spring. The collection has grown spectacularly through cross pollination! This year, some big as saucers and many with 2-3 hued petals. I have every color of the rainbow in all shapes and sizes, it's just amazing! Now, I'm sorting their Fall seeds for more deliberate planting in Spring. My 3 favorites this year were a pink-white-peach pompom, a jumbo dark crimson, and a single row of petals in BLUE with a tiny purple hat on its cone.
@@hollylc9914 so fun!
Yes but I saved seed for years and the zinnia is actually even prettier.
Can I start zinnia now? 10a zone
Yeah, you should have plenty of time to grow zinnias
Do the deer love them too ?😁
Deer don't really like zinnias!
i have never saved zinnia seeds because i've heard the colors are much less vibrant from them
get to the point faster, stay on pint, and show resuts
Thank you for sharing. I would like to know where you purchased the tool in your hand in this video?