Christie, Benary's Giants do, indeed, have "some of those yellow things". They are called pollen florets. The stigmas are the thin yellow "forks" at the base of each petal that receive the pollen to fertilize the seed that the petal is attached to. "It's kind of hard to find tall single colors that aren't double. I want butterflies!" Well, the Zowie that you mentioned in the other thread isn't exactly single, but it puts out a lot of pollen, so it might be to your taste. However, all zinnias put out some pollen florets, which contain the nectar that attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. So, if you have a lot of zinnias, you will have a lot of all three. If you actually want zinnias that aren't double, there are some strains of Whirligigs that have "run out" in open field culture, and have a lot of single bi-colored and tri-colored flowers. They look sort of like daisies, and can be quite pretty. One strain of Whirligigs that you might like is available as the Whirligigs from Parks. Based on your preferences, I think that you would totally enjoy growing a lot of them. As I have mentioned elsewhere, I much prefer double zinnias, and I have culled a lot of single zinnias that appeared in my zinnia patch. Some of them looked so pretty that it actually hurt me to do it. But I am trying to stick to my breeding objectives. Incidentally, not all zinnia florets are the fuzzy yellow "starfish" pollen florets that you usually associate with zinnias. The florets of scabiosa flowered zinnias have petal colors, and yet they also contain nectar for butterflies and hummingbirds. They can "smell" it and go for it. This is an example of a zinnia that contains the "scabious" florets. I have enjoyed crossing scabiosa flowered zinnias with "regular" zinnias to get some interesting results. The "scabi" florets have one important advantage over the normal fuzzy yellow florets, in that the fuzzy yellow florets die and shrivel after a couple of days, while the scabious florets remain as a permanent part of the flower, enabling the flower to build an impressive center of them. My hope is to breed scabious zinnias with much larger florets. I have made some progress in that direction. I don't know if I have a favorite color of zinnia, but I am going to be growing a lot more white zinnias next year. They look good in the evening, and they make nice crosses with other colors. ZM (not associated with any product or vendor mentioned)

Have you read the FAQs on Spring and Summer Sowing? I can tell you what I do for summer sowing, but keep in mind that my garden is entirely in pots and that what works for me on a (somewhat) protected terrace might not work the same for others. I use deeper containers - 5-6" of soil - and I do cover them, loosely. Lots of air holes in the cover. Until they sprout, they're kept in a shady spot on the terrace where they get only a small dose of morning sun. Watching the watering is much more crucial than with WS; my containers usually get by with a good bottom watering every couple of days. Once they sprout, I keep the covers as long as I can, adding more vents; this is mainly as a protection from the birds up here - they'll cart off a seedling in no time. Once they get some size, I pot them into bigger containers - one or two gallon sizes - to grow on. They get mulched well, and they'll get water for as long as necessary before cold weather sets in. For overwintering, I just bunch them up closely together, as close to the building wall as possible (where it's a bit warmer). Done. I've had failures, but some of the seeds I've had luck summer sowing and getting to live for the next year are malva, hosta, biennial salvia, and dianthus. I've got some lilac seedlings this year (not SS, but really slow in germinating) - at least I hope that's what they are - that will get the same treatment. Hope my method proves true with them. PV

http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq5120.html

http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq5320.html