Hello MW, " Do you know of any botanical books that show with good pictures what to do exactly? " I don't know of any books that have pictures of the hand pollination of zinnias. Actually, for whatever reasons, very few people want to hand pollinate their zinnias. Zinnias do a fairly good job of self-pollinating themselves, so the primary motivation for hand-pollinating zinnias is to do controlled cross-pollinations. That consists of picking the pollen florets of one zinnia and rubbing it on the stigmas of a different zinnia. The pollen florets are the "fuzzy yellow starfish" and the stigmas are the Y-shaped tendrils at the petal bases. The pollen florets are a bit small to manipulate with just your fingers, so the use of tweezers or forceps makes it easier to pick and use them. Click on these photo thumbnails to see the full-sized photo. While holding the pollen floret you can rub it on a number of different stigmas. As a different technique, you can use an artist's brush to dip in the pollen and get some pollen onto the tip of the brush. Then you can touch the tip of the brush to the stigmas you want to pollinate. I have used both techniques successfully to create a lot of hybridizations between the zinnias that I have selected for breeding. I currently use tweezers or small forceps to pick and rub pollen florets on stigmas. My forceps have the advantage of "locking" so I don't accidentally relax and drop the floret, but my tweezers let me work a little faster. " I also want to let some plants cross-pollinate to see if I get new ones... " They won't cross-pollinate on their own. You have to "be the bee" and cross-pollinate them. Left to themselves, zinnias mostly self-pollinate, even when bees are at work feeding on the zinnia nectar. ZM

A lot of effort is expended to protect the mailand from pests, undesireable plant materials and related items found in Hawaii. It is best to not take materials back at all. If you have specific interests and really want to do so, here are the rules as I understand them. Taking plants to the mainland is controlled by the Federal Dept of Agriculture. Your brother can buy some variety of precertified plants from the airports, ABC stores and specialty stores. He can also take back plants that have been prepared for shipping, with all the shipping and packing materials to the local Federal Dept of Agriculture. After they have been bare rooted and cleaned, you can hope they will pass them. They will not pass all plants. It is a lot of work for plants that will probably not make it in Pennsylvania. and even with all of this, there is some danger of bringing undesireable materials to your home.

If you check through several different states either Conservation or Natural Resources departments many of the plants suggested for wildlife and nature plantings are both invasive and originate in another country. I used to spend Saturday mornings listening to well known writers extoll about the native plants for birds and butterflies. Then when I checked most were considered invasive not just in my area but in other parts of the US. Giving you a Chinese wisteria does not suprise me at all.

This is more for new people joining. Important dates to remember: Sign-ups: March 1st Date for all pages to be updated -> March 1st ---Copies of everyones pages will be emailed to everyone shortly after that. All seeds must reach me in Ohio by March 31st. This is important so I can use some time off I have to get these turned around asap. conniesc rosepedal yotetrapper rane_grow lindaruzicka sassybutterfly_2008 chitownladyd kamiljablo nikkeneel sguanzon poisondartfrog jas_il dan_the_mailman thehills2 jaynine zinaray iabrtoo threeshyacres southerncharm1 gardenmom2 vic_zn5 grolikecrazy