Hi Martha, " I've decided to save seeds this year. Can you save seeds from the outer edges where the petals have dried and turned brown, even though the rest of the blossom is still fresh-looking?" Yes, you can save seeds even before the first petals turn brown. Pull a few of the lower petals out and inspect the seed on the end of each petal. If it is plump and kind of "heavy", it probably has a viable green embryo in it. Many of the seeds will be "empty" and not have a viable embryo in them. This picture gives you some idea of how the empty green seeds and viable green seeds look. Discard the empty seeds. Notice that the petals still have some color to them. Unless you plan to plant the seeds immediately, you will need to dry them before you store them. You can spread them out on a newspaper, or something like that, and let them air dry for a few days. Obviously you would not want to dry them in the oven, because that would kill the living embryos. After they are fully dry, the petals will be "crispy" and easily removed from the seeds. I store my seeds in Snack-sized Ziploc bags with a 3x5 card identifying the seed in some way. Keep them out of the sun. A cool dark place is probably best, but I keep mine in file drawers in the basement. "Might these still germinate next spring?" Yes. In fact, zinnia seeds can stay viable for 5 to 7 years when stored in a cool dry place. I'll be glad to answer any questions you may have about this process. ZM

Hi Dot - I ordered MOONLIGHT SAIL from Pat as well. I prefer to order mainly from the hybridizers...but if I want an older one I go to my favorite resellers. Thanks very much for the tip on SPECIAL CANDY...I've heard great things from others about it as well. Hehehe Lynxe!! Sure I'd love to trial all the new Stamile's for you :~) I haven't ordered many Stamile's lately because my collection was becoming mostly Stamile's and I needed to diversify. I can tell you that WREN'S SONG, LESLIE RENEE, FLAMINGO PARADE, and TRANQUIL WATERS all did well up here. CORONAL LIGHT was lost in a real bad winter and it is the ONLY Stamile I'd ever lost here. I've thought about giving CL another shot as it was probably something I did wrong. Let's see if I can did up some more pictures: TRANQUIL WATERS WREN'S SONG CORONAL LIGHT LESLIE RENEE FLAMINGO PARADE is not a red-purple so I don't want to include the pic but I'll attach it for anyone interested.... Leslie Zone 6, Rhode Island Here is a link that might be useful:

Lol, I have heard that, that's why I'm starting now instead of waiting till I am in a bigger house, and only keeping the best of each plant. I'm also going to put them under grow lights through winter. These are Kukiat seeds, so I'm hoping they are more robust and produce flowers before I die, haha. I'm actually trying to create a true blue with cross-pollination, the ones that bloom the soonest will be candidates (the rest I'll rehome). If I get a good blue, then I'll share cuttings to spread it around and make it immortal. =)

I don't have a lotta orange here, but I actually do in Maine. Here's one room w orange: I also had saved this from my Twitter feed. I'm a fan of Circus peanuts (shh). I eat them about once a decade.