If you are still looking and want some cherry and orange profusions that have a lot of chaff I can send you some for postage. I just don't have the desire anymore to clean all the chaff out of them! I have some cosoms mix too. Drop me a line if you want them. Ronnie

Hey there- No worries here! Doris L- the picture on the seed packet shows pink- so I will use my very best seed picking prowess and pick the packet with the most pink blooms in it- ;*) Alana- if you have a few seeds of these- Ipomoea turbinata I would love to try a couple- Thank you. Rosepetal- look for Vic in your return envelope! Flowers4ever- Your requested 3 are on their way to you as well!

Hello javiwa, " ...how does a layperson determine whether a flower/plant is a F1 or non-F1 hybrid? " If it is seeds, that is usually printed on the packet, because F1 hybrids (F1) cost considerably more than open pollinated (OP). If it is plants, that should be also on the little tag that comes with the plant. Also, you can ask here. " Profusion and Short Stuff appear to be the recommended zinnias that aren't susceptible to fungal diseases. " All zinnias are susceptible to fungal diseases !!! The Profusions, Zaharas, and Pinwheels (Zinnia marylandicas) are immune to Powdery Mildew, but not to other fungal diseases, bacterial diseases, viral diseases, phytoplasma diseases, nematodes, or what-have-you. Powdery Mildew is species specific (Lilacs, Phlox, Zinnia elegans, etc, have their own species of Powdery Mildew, and the Zinnia marylandicas are a new man-made species with 46 chromosomes, and don't have their own species of Powdery Mildew yet. So they are immune to PM. It is just a matter of time until Powdery Mildew mutates and the Marylandicas won't be immune to it any more. But that might take a very long time (centuries or more) until that happens. Or it could happen tomorrow. Wait and see on that. " I'm afraid I don't have the time to cross and hybridize zinnias, as my focus is on raising butterflies. " Crossing zinnias to create your own hybrids can take as little time as you wish. You can transfer a lot of pollen in a few minutes. Ot it can take a lot of time, like in my case, where it has become a year-round hobby. Zinnias differ a lot in how much nectar they produce, so there is such a thing as "butterfly-friendly" zinnias, that produce a lot more nectar-containing pollen florets than average. You could grow butterfly-friendly zinnias by simply buying and growing butterfly-friendly varieties. ZM

Many of the groundcovers/living mulches/perennial tapestries that once clothed my garden have by now been stolen or otherwise removed, so I'd love to have seeds of easily direct-sown flowers, herbs and/or vegetables that can be kept to 3' or lower with which to cover the ground. There are short or dwarf forms of many flowers that Celia Thaxter grew in her island garden off the coast of New Hanpshire(?) in a diagram of her garden, accompanied by a list of her flowers here: http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/thaxter/garden/garden.html Anything from her garden or similar that might help keep weeds down would be much appreciated. Some suggestions are: Asters - ones like tiger paws? other? Coreopsis - threadleaf Cosmos - dwarfs, like Popsocks etc Dianthus like "Picotee Pinks (D. chinensis x D. barbatus in our time), Sweet William Helianthus angustifolius(sp?) - Willow Leaf Sunflower - leaves are slender like willow leaves - not in Celia's garden, but she would have loved this if she had known about it - not all floppers welcome on my slopes, but this one would be wonderful anything blue and spikey like larkspur, but doesn't expire because of Maryland summer heat & humidity Anything attractive to hummingbirds, butterflies, bees Mallows including malva, althea (dwarf), etc. Marigolds- any - like Tagetes tenuifolia(sp?) - Cottage Red Mignonette (Reseda odorata) Poppies - Eschscholzia like 'Rose Chiffon', Papaver alpinus, P. nudicaule(sp?), P. paeoniflorum Silene - any Zinnia - low growing - Chippendale? disease resistant like Profusions, haageana, Zahara If all goes well, I'm hoping this will approximate my New England grandmother's garden of long ago