Pictures with questions (zinnia, larkspur, calendula) ?

18 years ago

Hi does anyone have larkspur that do this? I found a few strange one that are bright purple with blue "flashes":

(sorry if pictures are large..... I was having trouble resizing):

{{gwi:18926}}
Does this shaggy calendula have a cultivar name?

{{gwi:18928}}
What is wrong with this zinnia envy? Some only have one row of petals and this weird fluffy middle with these funny little yellow "sub" petals popping out.

{{gwi:18930}}
The others look "normal" and full like this:

{{gwi:18932}}

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (9)

beleaf
18 years ago
There is nothing wrong with those zinnias. Must be your first go at them is it???
flowersandthings
Original Author
18 years ago
I've grown zinnias for years but never from seed. I've grown a few varieties from seed this year and none of the others do this. This is my first time growing envy. I guess this is how some of its seedlings look? Not very attractive. I don't know all and all if I'll be growing this variety again.
That picture of larkspur didn't upload very well.... Here it is:
{{gwi:18935}}
Related Discussions
It can be fun to breed your own zinnias - Part 12
Q
Comments (44)
HC, "I'm curious as to what 'Highlights' actually is. I can't find that stated in the literature. I think commercial zinnia breeders know scads that they are not making public." I agree. Burpee is owned by Ball, who sell the yellow Zahara, but if you compare the shorter rounder petals of Yellow Zahara with the somewhat longer, narrower petals of Burpee's Highlight Hybrid, it appears very probable that the two are different zinnia cultivars. And Burpee claims Highlight Hybrid as an exclusive, so I think it probably is. I do tend to doubt that Highlight Hybrid is actually an F1 hybrid, however. The Marylandicas are of hybrid origin, but because of chromosome doubling, they are actually open pollinated and, in my opinion, it is mislabeling to refer to them as F1 hybrids. You could cross two Marylandicas to produce a legitimate F1 hybrid Marylandica, but I doubt that has been done in any commercially available zinnia. The Zahara Starlight Rose that JG linked to looks like a likely starting point for a race of bicolor Marylandicas. I have yet to see a Marylandica that really "turns me on", but that one comes close. Crossing Zahara Starlight Rose and Burpee's Highlight Hybrid could produce some interesting results, particularly in the F2 generation. Incidentally, it should be possible to start with a Scabiosa x Angustifolia cross and produce scabiosa flowered Marylandicas. I think that might actually happen commercially in the future. Thanks for the compliment on my photos. I enjoy photographing zinnias almost as much as raising them. Next year I hope to get a digital SLR for much better control of my picture making. I always have trouble controlling focus and depth of field and my outdoors pictures usually have a problem with wind moving the flowers around while I am trying to take their picture. I hope to figure out how to make a "garden friendly" portable windscreen to help with that. I rarely make a zinnia picture that I am entirely satisfied with, but that also holds true for my zinnias themselves, so I just enjoy the quest. I have to say that your cell phone pictures are amazingly good, considering that they are from a phone. It would be hard to hold you back if you had an actual camera. But your phone pictures are a big help and much better than a simple verbal description. As they say, "A picture is worth a thousand words." That holds true even for phone pictures. Keep those phone pictures coming. ZM
...See More
Two years old, lot of pictures
Q
Comments (37)
Reg, I know that garden phlox/paniculata will colonize. I read that David's bad about that. I'm trying to keep it in two clumps so will take the shovel to the others that show up. Thanks for telling me what happens in your garden. The phlox has always taken a couple of years to take hold and start to bloom -do you think maybe the small ones just haven't matured yet? Btw, do you prune yours down in early summer to control size? I haven't before but might try this year. I have the native bleeding heart, Dicentra formosa all through the woodland garden - at least I did until I started digging in it. I hope it comes back because it is really pretty. A friend gave me one of the large dicentras, spectabilis. It had grown from hers, so I figured it spread. It is a striking looking plant, for sure. Sorry your delphiniums didn't return; mine didn't either, but neither did the larkspur. which of the delphiniums do you like or have the best luck with? I had always wanted to grow delphs in the south so planted them the first year. I wasn't as crazy about them as I thought I would be and think I like larkspur better anyway. I am trying to germinate some wintersown magic fountains, but if they don't take, I don't think I'll try for the started plants. I am glad you have luck with salvias. I loved 'May Night' in Ala and planted some up here, and they just didn't grow. I switched to 'Cardonna' last year and I don't think they did well here either. I haven't tried the annual salvias here; I grew salvia farinacea, mealy cup sage, in the south. Is that what you grow as an annual? btw, the chicken topiary pic above has a 'Cardonna' in it- it's the spindly looking plant between the lavender rows. That was taken in early August; it never really got robust. But maybe it will grow better this summer. hi, Strawberry, It's amazing how much of an effect concrete leaching can have on a plant. I've heard of vinegar as an acidifier; thanks for the mention of lemon, too. You post pics too, okay?
...See More
Garden pics.... but waiting for zinnias to bloom
Q
Comments (14)
With regard to above picture question about how old some plants are: shasta - you're going to love this! The malva zebrina behind the sundrops (which are perennial - two years old, spread by runners) is a reseed! I've never had a reseed so huge. Gaillardia - second year, last year green this year bloom The larkspur (I think only one big one is showing) a reseed Rose campions - last year greenery, this year blooms. In the back are oxalis - which are perennial (pink and also some white). The calendulas were wintersown - will bloom soon. Black eyed susans this year, but no blooms yet. Poppies are this year, in front of them, gaillardia burgundy about to bloom (second year), Salvia Blue Bedder - third year, but looked like that second year also. (wintersown) Tall Black eyed susan second year (wintersown) Spireas - store bought (good buy in walmart) two years old. The picture below: Pink pincushions (along path) - third year (wsown)
...See More
Questions about Lupine; Larkspur, and Foxglove
Q
Comments (7)
Here has been my experience with the above mentioned: larkspurs - I so much like them better when they are direct sown in the Fall - Sorry, wintersowing works well with a lot of other plants, but for me, the larkspurs are too hard to transplant and are tiny compared to the reseeds I get in the spring. By the time the Larkspurs that were wintersown get tall enough to bloom, it is too hot here for them to last. The reseeds bloom in early May and by almost June, I am ready to pull them or wait for a few to dry up (Mostly I pull and buy the seeds, the foliage looks ugly and distracting in the garden) Foxgloves: I HOS foxgloves for a huge mound that will only bloom it's second year - they are well worth it and definitely I sow them in early spring in containers. Lupines - Terrible luck keeping them alive in our heat; had no trouble germinating them, but not worth the time and heartache seeing them wither in our NC sun. Good luck - hope that helps - You may not be as hot as we are here - but you are from Virginia... so you could be... Carrie
...See More
Fledgeling_
18 years ago
I just grew zinnias for the first time from seed this year, but looking at the resulting seedlings it looks like the gene that causes the flowers to 'double' or 'layer' or whatever they do is sometimes not expressed or only partially so. i dont know why only some of your varieties did this- i dont know much about zinnias. One plant i have looked as if it was partly expressed with those stay petals doubled later on...
Garden_Momma
18 years ago
I think Zinns are doing just fine.

There is the wierd one that will pop up every once in a while...But tht's what makes gardening fun! Very beautiful
larkspur!!!....
G_M
flowersandthings
Original Author
18 years ago
Does anyone else's larkspur do this? With the stripes/splashes/splotches? :)
happyhoe
18 years ago
Larkspur striping is very common.
Florazone9
18 years ago
I love that larkspur and would kill for seeds. I have crosses every year with my larkspurs. I had some white ones that I originally planted 5 years ago and get many with pink or lavander splotches also. It's nature and I just love seeing what happens every year as they reseed themselves.
gardengurl49
18 years ago
OMGoodness all my zinnia envy look like that weird one.. except worse.. the color is ugly and it just looks.. ugly! liek a weed! How do you take care of yours? At least theres some normal ones there must be something you're doing right! the normal ones look SO beautiful compared to my ugly ones :(
lynnencfan
18 years ago
Any time you grown plants from seeds you run the chance of "mutations" from the original seed unless the seed is produced in a sterile enviroment. One of the things that makes growing from seed so interesting is the subtle changes from the original plant. My lakspur runs the gambit from white through every shade of blue to the deepest purple including the one you have pictures - which by the way I think is one of the prettiest colors I had this year. That just was so striking. Cross pollination is what gives us ALL the endless varities of plants to choose from every year. When you buy a packet of seed that shows a particular variety/color/ect - you will get that the first year but if it reseeds in your garden - some seedlings will be the same and many will be different - variety is what make a garden beautiful.

On a side note - I wish I could grow calendula - it just melts in my heat and humidity - yours is so pretty

Pictures with questions (zinnia, larkspur, calendula) ?

Comments (9)

beleaf

flowersandthings
Original Author

Related Discussions

Fledgeling_

Garden_Momma

flowersandthings
Original Author

happyhoe

Florazone9

gardengurl49

lynnencfan

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Pictures with questions (zinnia, larkspur, calendula) ?

Comments (9)

beleaf

flowersandthingsOriginal Author

Related Discussions

Fledgeling_

Garden_Momma

flowersandthingsOriginal Author

happyhoe

Florazone9

gardengurl49

lynnencfan

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

flowersandthings
Original Author

flowersandthings
Original Author