Sanvitalia / Creeping Zinnia -- best vairety? from seed? shade?

18 years ago

Greetings, all --

This year I think I'm going to try growing Sanvitalia / Creeping Zinnia from seed for containers and Flower Pouches. Has anyone tried this before? Just how early do I need to start it?

Also, there are quite a few varieties available from seed. I'm leaning toward Irish Eyes, but am open to suggestions. Does anyone have experience with it or others like Mandarin Orange, the Sprite Series or Aztec Gold? Which has been the best in containters?

Finally, can Sanviatalia really bloom well in shade?

Thanks for your help,

LianeNY

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (4)

covella
18 years ago
I've never heard of this plant - does it want sun like a regular zinnia?
lianeny
Original Author
18 years ago
Alyrics and all --

Sanvitalia procumbens aka Mexican Creeping Zinnia isn't really a zinnia -- I think I recall that it's fairly closely related Rudbeckia. It's a low growing plant with a habit that's supposed to be good for containers, window boxes, flower pouches, etc. Keep in mind I haven't actually grown it myself -- I haven't been able to find it offered locally.

It's supposed to be heat and drought tolerant, which would make it perfect for a couple of difficult spots I've got. It is also supposed to tolerate some shade, but I've seen conflicting recommendations about amount of sun for best bloom. That's one question I was hoping someone could answer!

I'm leaning toward Sanvitalia 'Irish Eyes' which has orange flowers with a green eye (check out a picture via the link below). There are other varieties with yellow or orange flowers with brown or black eyes -- some varieties claim to be at least partially double flowered.

If anyone can share their experience with this plant, I'd appreciate it!

LianeNY

Here is a link that might be useful: Sahin Seed --- Sanvitalia procumbens 'Irish Eyes'
Related Discussions
It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 10
Q
Comments (93)
Hi! Let me show you what happened when I allowed the below flower, a red scabious zinnia, cross randomly with other zinnias in the garden (we will presume pollination carried out by insects). The mother flower, or at least, one similar example from the same plant, shown below: The offspring (shown at different scale): This one above has full, orange scabious flowers, about 1 1/2 inches across. This one above not a good flower at all, but it may be damaged by the weather conditions we've had, too. Not like it's mother.... This flower above looks like it may have had a whirligig dad...has a good supply of disc flowers. This above flower seems to me to be most like the mother flower, but the florets are a shorter red, and there are guard petals (damaged, I think) of a shade of fuscia. This is the only plant that has inherited the relatively narrower leaves of its maternal parent, too. The above flower seems uncertain of what to do--funny florets in the center, somewhat curly petals here and there, but keeping the red color for the most part. Last, but not least: This might be an interesting one. Daisy-like, some of the central florets turning brown due to too much rain, and more to come! I couldn't believe what sorts of flowers came from that red scabious mother! It's kind as if anything goes when there are random crosses. I have four or five plants that resulted from planned crosses with the red scabious and a red cactus. Will see what happens.... But I sure would like to get another red scabious like the one I had last summer.... ZM, when you said "recombinant" flower I thought you probably meant home-bred, but I asked anyway. I think what you're doing is the right thing. I am going to eliminate those plants that produce mediocre flowers to get better lines going here. For now, though, I am nipping off the undesirable first flowers without destroying the plants. I think some ugly flowers may be resulting from poor environmental conditions! I wonder if we should move to Part 11? ZM? JG
...See More
It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 23
Q
Comments (101)
Hi Alex, " I can't even get into the garden! There's a heavy pile of snow/ice gluing the gate shut. " Clearly you have a much more arctic climate in Michigan than we here in Kansas. The top few inches of our soil have thawed, although it is still hard frozen a few inches down. I am hoping that our soil will thaw some more this week, because there is an area of my garden that has a lot of rocks in it that I want to rake out before planting it. Right now the rake teeth just sort of "bounce off" of that still frozen layer. Incidentally, you have mastered the "blockquote" thing quite well. There are a couple more HTML things that are easy to use, and handy sometimes. They are "b" for bold and "u" for underline. In these examples, as before, I will use square brackets to indicate the HTML, and let angle brackets, which you don't see, cause the actual execution of the HTML. Sometimes, [b] if you want something to stand out a bit [/b], you can use the "b" command, and [u]if you really want to emphasize something[/u], you can use "u" to underline it. You can [b][u]combine the two[/u][/b] if you want, or [I][b][u]use all three [/u][/b][/I]. There is another HTML command, the "font" command, that is somewhat more complicated, and somewhat more capable. You can use it to [font color="red"] change the color of your text,[/font] but I don't usually have a need for colored text. Incidentally, there are an amazing number of colors at your disposal. I just picked red because it is a simple example. You may or may not have noticed that I used the "font" command to change the typeface of this paragraph, up to this point. I used the [font face="Georgia"] command. Most, perhaps all, browsers let you set a default typeface, and this forum itself probably controls its fonts as well. I sometimes enjoy diddling with details, but I hope the phrase "the Devil is in the details" doesn't apply to me. Back to the weather, we are having a nice sunshiny day here. I know your weather will improve and sometime this Summer, when I am sweltering in three-digit heat, you will be much more comfortable. More later. ZM
...See More
Recommendations for (full) shade perrenials
Q
Comments (15)
I'm growing hosta, astilbe and lady's mantle from seeds I harvested from my own plants and winter sowed. Pulmonaria (lungwort) is another shade lover, as is black snakeroot, Japanese painted fern, bleeding heart, Japanese sedge grass (carex), and toad lily (tricyrtis). My full shade area is packed with all of the ones mentioned so far on this thread. Brunnera (Siberian bugloss) 'Jack Frost' is going gangbusters in that bed as well but I've never had any volunteers and I hear it's not worth trying to grow from seed. They're gorgeous plants for the shade but they're pricey at the garden nurseries. The one I have is 'Jack Frost.' Best way to get more of them is to grow one & divide it every 3-4 years. Another one that's pricey but does produce seeds is Lenten rose (Hellebore), so named because it blooms during the season of Lent, very early. It's evergreen too. I WS coral bells seeds I got in a trade but got zero germination. I may try to harvest seeds from my own plants this year and try again. I figure since coral bells were the ONLY seeds out of 44 different, new perennials I WS, I should probably try at least one more time. The hosta I WS are doing great but they're not variegated like the parent plants. That's the downside of WS hosta seeds--chances are you'll get plain green ones but they're still free plants! They take time to get any size on them--3-4 years minimum. They don't need cold stratification--I grew some last summer in a sunny window, wintered them over and they're back up again this year, albeit still small. For moist shade, turtlehead (chelone) is nice. I WS seeds and have some nice size sprouts. I WS the white since the butterflies supposedly prefer them over the pink. Don't forget hydrangea--the "hydra" part of the name is Greek for water. They want some shade too and there are gorgeous new cultivars coming out all the time. Lamium makes a nice groundcover for shady spots along with ajuga if you don't mind it spreading everywhere. Creeping myrtle seems to thrive wherever it's planted--I've got it growing in full shade, full sun and everything in between.
...See More
NEW: 'cleaning the seed box ' swap
Q
Comments (104)
hello another update 1. Micyrey/Michelle anything but trees 2. panchiro/Simone 3. amybabyboy3/Amy veggies and flowers 4. booberry85 (veggies) 5. sguanzon 6. vic_zn5/Vic (flowers & veggies) 7. kristlindgren/Kris 8. kmpsmom/Ann 9. fcoffill/Frances flowers/foliage for hot/dry **receved seeds** 10. evonnestoryteller (flowers) **receved seeds** 11. sassybutterfly_2008/Wendy (flowers) 12. mimib1/Brenda (any) 13. luvgardening2/Nancy (veggies) 14. ravenwv - flowers 15. esiuol/Louise 16. quiltingfox **receved seeds** 17 rbrady/Rhonda 18. urbanhula/titiana **receved seeds** 19. saleado/jonathan 20. livingdedgrrl - flowers 21. ibartoo/linda flowers 22. candycow/candy 23. astilbebstillz6a/ veggies/herbs/ some flowers 24. daphne16/ veggies/herbs/eddibles **receved seeds** 25. kalena67/ karen 26. greensingh/ flowers/foliage/grass/tomatoes 27. kandituft/ flowers/veggies 28. metull/melonie flowers 29. flowers1/amy 30. chrizty/christy flowers 31. dorisl/doris 32. southern charm/ anything not toxic 33. grove spirit/ non toxic 34. christie199/christie flowers and herbs 35. uncgardener/kara veggies/flowers 36. gnomey/ 37. musicaldeity/ anything I'll besending my address to those who have not gotten it yet michelle
...See More
PVick
18 years ago
Liane - That looks pretty much like the sanvitalia I grew a few years ago, except the flowers were yellow. I grew them from seed (Select Seeds), using the winter sowing method. They were very, very easy - germinated in 5 days.

It's a very cheerful plant, covered with tiny (maybe 1"?) flowers in summer. It can be a bit spindly; but I think if I'd pinched back the seedlings early, they would have been bushier. Or maybe I should just have put more in the pot.

At any rate, I grew them in a windowbox on my all-day-sun railing. It can get pretty hot and dry there sometimes. The sanvitalia were planted under the "shade" of upright petunias and spikes, but got a good shot of midday sun. They trailed very nicely over the edges of the windowbox and flowered very well.

So I'd say they were pretty heat and drought tolerant, and grow OK in some shade. Just plant them in "bunches" if you want a full, lush look.

The foliage stayed nice and green throughout, too - they should look great in the flower pouches.

{{gwi:1631}}

PV
lianeny
Original Author
18 years ago
PV --

Thanks for your response -- you gave me the info I was looking for.

When I'm not personally familiar with a plant, I'm never certain if I should believe the catalog hype.... Hopefully I'll some great container shots to post this summer.

Thanks again,

LianeNY

Sanvitalia / Creeping Zinnia -- best vairety? from seed? shade?

Comments (4)

covella

lianeny
Original Author

Related Discussions

PVick

lianeny
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Sanvitalia / Creeping Zinnia -- best vairety? from seed? shade?

Comments (4)

covella

lianenyOriginal Author

Related Discussions

PVick

lianenyOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

lianeny
Original Author

lianeny
Original Author