I live in the north-central area of the USofA, and am a huge zinnia lover. May I suggest buying lilliput zinnia seed, or dwarf zinnia seed. I start my zinnia's in Jiffy 7's about 8 weeks before last frost date. The dwarf zinnias are slow to germinate, some of the best colours are the slowest to germinate, so I take that into consideration. When planting out time comes I crowd them in my plantings, and have spectacular results. It is as if they support each other while stretchinig out for more sunlight. Zinnias do need fertile soil and full sun, but the rewards are great. Mine always are lanky, but crowded together they produce long stemmed flowers. I also plant some of the California Giant Zinnia's, and they truly are giants of my garden. Fortunately the seed is available by the ounce or part of ounce at the garden center near me. A fungicide of natural or chemical nature is almost always needed to keep the plants healthy. Like mentioned by others..topping off and deadheading is worth the effort. Yes, zinnias are a great cut flower, and last in bouquets a long time.

Amanda, Well, only you can decide that. I wouldn't plant them, but that is based on trying onions from sets a couple of decades ago and not being happy with their growth or performance. Your results could be entirely different. Since they are not labeled with the variety name, I suspect they are "hot" or "storage" onions merely because that is the type most often sold as sets, and I feel like a company would be more likely to label sweet onion sets if that's what they were simply because of their uniqueness. If you have the space to plant a row of them, then why not plant them and see what you get? Otherwise, you'll never know whether or not they'll grow for you. After all, onions sets could have improved in the 20 or so years since I tried them. : ) Then, in order to "guarantee" you get onions, plant some from transplants. The stores still should have plenty. You'll find them in little bundles, often in boxes or crates made of very thin wood, at garden centers, feed stores, the lawn and garden centers at big box stores, etc. If you like sweet onions, plant something like Texas 1015Y (aka Texas Supersweet), Candy, Super Star, Contessa or Bonnie's White or Yellow Granex. Almost any white or yellow onion sold in bundles of tiny plants in Oklahoma ought to be sweet onions because that is what grows best here. Dawn

First some basics. This may seem obvious, but you must leave flower heads on plants that you want to set seed. Deadheading to prolong bloom is not an option unless the plant produces enough flower stalks that you can deadhead some and leave others to fall off naturally while seeds form. If you grow vegetables and fruits to eat, allowing plants to go to seed may spoil the intended product (for example, lettuce leaves taste bitter once plants flower) or reduce the quantity of edibles, or the seeds themselves may be what you plan on eating (peas, for instance). A further consideration is that many popular garden plants, grown for flowers or for food, are hybrids and either do not produce seed or their seeds are not viable (viable means able to germinate and grow). In any case, before you can collect seed from any plant it must go through the whole cycle of flowering, being pollinated, developing seed, and ripening. Some plants develop seeds within pods of varying descriptions, others hide their seeds inside fruits or berries, and still others harbor their seeds directly inside the dying flower heads. In all cases, any seeds produced will develop in close proximity to the spot where the flowers originally appeared. If you can not locate seeds on a particular plant, try posting a question to the Growing From Seed forum here at GardenWeb for assistance. It's best to let seeds ripen on the plants until they are *almost* ready to disperse on their own. It's a common mistake to separate seeds from the plant before they've finished developing; any collected too early will not be viable. Once seeds have finished enlarging, they will generally change color (from whitish or green to tan, brown, or black) and begin to dry out. Pods will start splitting open, berries or fruits will shrink and wrinkle, or flower heads will begin to fall apart, dropping the seeds within. On many plants the seeds don't ripen all at once (check daily), and it can be useful to tie a small paper bag or the toe cut from panty hose over the seed heads to prevent dispersal before you can harvest. If this method isn't practical, collect the seed heads or pods before they are completely dried out (i.e. papery dry), or the seed may either have dispersed or will fall out when you shake the plant stems while breaking off the pods or heads. *Cutting* the stems will help to prevent this sort of seed loss. As long as you wait until the flower seed heads have turned dark and fairly dry, or until the bracts ("leafy" shape that surrounds the petals of a flower where it attaches to its stem) or the pods themselves have quit enlarging and begun to dry out, you can cut and take these indoors to finish ripening in a cool, shaded place inside a closed paper bag (this will prevent you from losing seeds which disperse *explosively*, such as Impatiens and Phlox). How do I know if my plants are hybrids that may not produce seed true to the parent plant? Always save any tags or labels on plants you buy and ask questions about plants you obtain from other gardeners. Unfortunately, many commercial growers don't tag their plants very informatively (even the conscientious ones make mistakes), and many gardeners only know their plants by common names, which can vary widely throughout different parts of the country and world. Your best bet is to learn all you can about the plants you have or want and post questions about specific ones on the Growing From Seed forum to get additional advice.

The NV forum is pretty dead. What I know: Southern NV generally you want to do two seasons, akin to FL. Most people I know rip out the plants and plant new ones. The temps are just too darn high. A quick search of the Ag extension publications advises: "Temperatures that are higher than 90° F during the day (southern Nevada averages 150 such days a year) are the main cause of blossom drop. In fact, temperatures over 104° F for four hours or more cause the flowers to abort. Night temperatures higher than 75° F will also cause blossom abortion. These sustained, hot temperatures at night burn up the food reserves the tomato produced during the day and the flowers abort. There is no chemical growth regulator that will help set fruit under these conditions." (Source here.) Not sure how relevant this is to FL growing, however. Humidity is pretty much nonexistent and soils tend to have very different problems.