The colors do look different to me. If you grow more from the same packet, I am sure you will get more colors like deeper red, purple, yellow, etc.

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

Hi everyone, Thanks for the new replies. Gem1, this is indeed full sun. I took these pics at 5:30 a.m. so the bed is showing what little shade it gets. By 6:30 it's in full sun and it stays in absolute full bore sunshine until 6:30 or so at night, so it's getting 12 hours of direct, full sun. That being said, I do have some zinnias in half a day's shade and they do great too--they just get a bit leggier, but still bloom their heads off. DesertHeat, I don't do anything special at all with these--I definitely don't avoid getting the leaves wet--I slosh water all over them each time I water, though I do water just in the morning. Glad you like the marigolds too-they're another one of my favorites. Mine are all the French type (small flowered types) and they're doing really well. This year I'm doing a lot of the 'Janie' hybrids (link below), but I also plant some old time heirloom types too, plus there are always some self sown marigolds popping up here and there (my most attractive marigold of all is one that popped up in the cracks of my back patio--I'd feel sorry for it baking all day and not having much root exposure, except that it looks so great!). Easy, I noticed that watering wand after I took the pic, heh heh...yes, the fountain is more of a fancy holder/statue than an actual fountain (coffee cup while I'm dragging the hose around, occasional hand shovel, or sprinkler head, lol). Glad you all enjoyed the pics. I've got some similar beds with vincas too. I'm all about clown's-pants color! Take care, Grant, off to Flag for a four day weekend. Here is a link that might be useful: Janie hybrid marigolds from Parks

Hey thank You all.. :) to be honest they are not absolutely free from pests, the lower leaves have some of mealy bugs, which i try to wash with water every time. This seems to control their population if not completely eradicating... haven't spot any mildew yet, i try to water them before going to work in morning, the whole day the leaves dry up in open sun, making it unfavorable for mildew to grow.. not sure what happens in the wet season of Monsoon rains... @ Silvia: that candycane is very pretty, I'll do try in future.. @ imagardener2: I searched the link below for you... :) Zinnia Yoga is listed in their Cut-flower section of 2010 catalog, check their retailer outlets of your convenience.. Izhar Here is a link that might be useful: Loghouse plants