"The beauty of another season is reason enough for us to believe in tender miracles."  -- Flavia Weedn

"Every ending is the beginning of something new." -- Flavia Weedn

ORDER ZINNIAS NOW! 

Every so often, people write to ask us how to collect and save Zinnia seeds.  They also like to know what a zinnia seed looks like.  So here they are!  Our Van Dyke Zinnia seeds.  Come closer so you can see them!  They range from the tiniest - the spreading zinnias, bottom left on the sheet - to the largest; top - the Binary's Giant seeds.  The angustifolia zinnias have narrower leaves AND seeds, as evidenced here with the thinner, smaller Bonita Red seeds on the bottom right.  Most of the seeds look like tiny arrowheads, with tips almost as sharp!  They are a bit "furry" or hairy, as are the leaves of the zinnia. 

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This is from one of our web visitors!  It always makes me happy to know our efforts are of value to some of you!  Please visit often!  --Sharon

"hello! my mother came in about a half hour ago with one of her zinnia flower heads and asked what the seeds look like. so, we jumped online and within minutes (and with some effort) i found your page showing and explaining all about how to collect the seeds and what they look like. just wanted to write and say "thanks." you website is fantastic! we would also enjoy seeing your catalog."  sincerely, collene

Seed-saving is a timeless activity, the earliest farmers being the hunters and gatherers who learned they could insure an adequate food supply by collecting, saving, then replanting seeds. Pilgrims brought seeds with them to the New World, and pioneers moving west had their favorites along with them, too.  The many times our family has moved, I've always lugged along a can of my favorite seeds to insure I'd have my favorite flowers the first summer in our new home.  Seeds represent hope and new life, commodities we'd want to take with us wherever we roam. 

To save the seed, just take care to pull off the heads as they fade.  This is known as "deadheading," but instead of tossing the spent blooms, examine them to see if they house viable seed.  If you pull the heads too early, the bees, Mother Nature, and other pollinators may not have had the chance to do their work, and the seed won't be ready. The flower head on zinnias is ready when they make a distinctive "POP" as you snap them off.  The seed is inside the cone, just behind the petals.  In fact, follow the petals to the seed at its base.  We say every petal is a chance for a seed. 

Test the flower's seed to make sure it's ready, even before you pick it, by peeling back the petal until the seed's exposed.  It should be green or brown (if very dry) but NOT white or light colored.  Let the heads dry thoroughly for several days before putting them in a paper bag.  The paper will absorb any excess moisture as the heads over-winter.  But we also then put the paper bag in a large plastic bag to extra insurance.  The goal is to store them in a cool, dry place all winter. 

Seeds from hybrid plants won't yield the exact same kind of plant, producing instead a genetic mix of traits from both parent plants in a very random assortment - even bordering on bizarre.  There will be no predicting what you'll get!  Open pollinated varieties are best for generational consistency.  And only stringent greenhouse controlled conditions will produce near exact copies of flowers.  For us, that would take the fun out of our outside work; and zinnias don't do well in the greenhouse anyways.  So we don't do these experiments presently.  Spacing flowers in the garden has everything to do with color integrity.  Even a neighbor's flowers can work their way into your beds, thanks to the pollinators and the wind and other conditions. 

We hand-select the blooms each season, separating the heads full of seed from the biggest blooming, tallest, most robust (disease resistant) plants.  Our Supreme Variety Zinnias last the longest in the gardens, tolerating several light frosts before they give up the ghost.  The smaller varieties like the Persian Carpet are also stalwart.  I like to get the seed from the last and longest living plants and segregate it for Farm stock so we take advantage of Michigan's cooler to colder temperatures for encouraging long lasting flowers for our customers. 

So many people fall in love with their zinnias and write to ask me if the plants will live indoors over winter.  Sadly, the answer is, "No." I've tried it several times to my disappointment.  Zinnias need HEAT and SUNLIGHT.  Without these things, they will slowly die.  So I allow this life-death-life cycle to play itself out here at the Farm, and resolve to enjoy the short summer season in Michigan with as much gusto as I can muster before Jack Frost interrupts my reverie.  By the time we wheel that last load of collected seed into the barn, we're ready for the season to end, believe me!  Like the earth that produced the seed, we also need rest and refreshed for the next year.

The seed's greatest enemies are moisture and heat; so be sure to store your treasures in a cool, dry place.  No need to refrigerate zinnia seeds.  Just keep them dry and cool over the winter.  Keeping the thoroughly dried seeds in an air-tight coffee can or plastic container extends the life of the seed by preserving the water inside of it, The water is needed to nourish first growth and burst the seed from the pod in the soil in spring. 

For more information on seeds of all kind, I recommend:

• Peter Loewer, Seeds - The Definitive Guide to Growing, History & Lore,1995.

Hope this helps!  Keep in touch!  We love hearing from our customers!   -Sharon

IRISH PROVERB: May the light always find you on a dreary day.  When you need to be home, may you find your way. May you always have courage to take a chance, And never find frogs in your underpants.          --Unknown

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From time to time, we will offer web-only specials and publish short stories about the Farm Dogs or the grandkids, and inspirations from life on the Farm in mid-Michigan, the American heartland.  Seasonally, we will write to help Gardeners grow beautiful Zinnias, learn how to make a stunning bouquet, or how to collect precious seed when harvest is here.  Let us know if you would like to receive them.  We have moved our web to a new server and resized all photos for faster load times.  As we approach another winter, I hope you visit us often to see our pretty pictures and read about the simple things we love most here.  Thanks for being a customer!  -Sharon Baller, President

"To see life's passages through the eyes of your heart is to know that all is happening exactly as it was meant to."  -- Flavia Weedn