The Zinna Flower: Care and Seed Collection
November 10, 2013
Zinna’s are really fun flowers to add to the garden. They are also very easy to care for so don’t feel like you need to know a ton to grow these. Zinna’s like pretty much any soil and can even grow in sandy soils so fear not you can grow this!
Quick growing they add color to any yard or garden. Pick a sunny place to plant these in the spring and you should get blooms all summer long.
If you don’t have much space you can plant these in hanging baskets, or use as a boarder and or grow in a window box.
The annual flower needs full sun and may last up till winter, but will not last through winter months so plant these seeds at the beginning of spring. There are many colors to choose from as well, so you can mix and match for what you want. It really depends on which variety you get for both color and size,but they can reach up to 30in while the compact plants are anywhere from 8-12in.
Try not to water the leaves as it can spread disease within the plant and kill it off fast, so just like a tomato plant, water from below never above.
Once the flowers start blooming you have two choices, one let them go to seed or deadhead them for continued blooms. I do both, taking half of one plants spent blossoms so it will keep blooming and the other half I let go right to seed. I like to collect from each plant that way I have plenty to plant for the next year.
A spent flower looks dry but some may still hold a pale color in the petals when ready to harvest for seeds. To see if the flower went full seed pull one petal out and if it has a dried dark seed at the end you can pull the rest. Store in an air tight container away from light until ready to plant.
28 Comments
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Courtney Pies
Wow, the zinna flower is absolutely beautiful! I don't know if I've ever seen one of these or not.
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Courtney Pies
Wow, the zinna flower is absolutely beautiful! I don't know if I've ever seen one of these or not.
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Ashley Gill
This flower is absolutely beautiful.. I know nothing about keeping flowers alive though! Thanks for these tips!
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Patricia Woolverton
Beautiful flower and I never knew that they were easy to grow and can spread disease if you water from the top.
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The Frugal Greenish Mama
I love Zinnia's and saving the seeds is such a great way to be sustainable and save money.
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Pam
What gorgeous pictures. I love Zinnas. My mom use to grow them all around our house and they were so beautiful.
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Sarah-Louise Bailey
Wow what a beautiful plant – I need to get to know more about flowers as I would love to have more in the garden next year 🙂 x
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Jennifer Williams
I have never known how to get seeds out of plants. That is a great way to save money while having a beautiful yard.
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Sharon Martin
I have never heard of Zinnas before seeing reading this, they are beautiful and the pink is so vivid.
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mail4rosey
Thank you for the extra tips you've included, those are good to know. Zinna flowers really are just gorgeous.
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AMBER EDWARDS
I had no idea about how to grow and harvest Zinnas! I just knew that i wanted to grow them when we get our new house! I love these flowers! So this is very helpful, thankyou!
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Theresa
They really are such beautiful flowers. I have such a hard time growing anything though. I even kill every cactus I get lol. I would love to have a bunch of these beauties in a flower bed though!
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Karen Hewitt
Thanks for sharing these flower care tips especially the details on the seeds. I would have never have known otherwise
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Guavalicious
We just did the Zinni petal in Girl Scout Daisies. I should bring some in to show off to my troop!
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Growing Up Madison
Oh I always thought that I would never be able to grow flowers. Our soil here sucks when it comes to plants. Good to know that these can grow almost anywhere. These may be my spring flowers.
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Masshole Mommy
Those are really pretty flowers. Sadly, I don't have the yard to grow anything, so I have to buy mine at the store.
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Amberlee
Such a pretty flower! I always wondered how you get the seeds from the flowers! I will have to test this out this year!
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MikiHope
I never knew Zinna's can spread disease–what type I wonder? Guess if you have animals you should not plant near where they may go.
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Liz @ A Nut in a Nutshell
I don't know why I've never tried to collect seeds in the Fall. It's just silly of me. I think you've inspired me.
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Crystal Green
That is interesting. I love the first picture. It is so beautiful. Thanks for sharing this bit of information.
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Rachee
Beautiful! I have been trying to garden more and never know what to plant, This gives me great ideas.
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Anita Breeze
I love Zinnas! What I love best about them are the rich colors. Some of them look like they are painted on. In my area, they do reseed and come back, another reason to love them. 🙂
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Teresa McCluskey
Wow, the first photo is beautiful! I never knew how to tell when the seed was ready to harvest thanks for sharing such great information!
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(Terry) My Journey With Candida
The Zinna was one of my Mothers favorite flowers. Those seeds are pretty big or is that the pod? Your zinna is a very pretty color.
Melanie
I love the Zinna, one of my favorite, the colors are sooo pretty; I just never knew how to care for them; thanks for sharing, have to pin it so I will remember.