How to Harvest and Save Zinnia Seeds

Zinnias are among the quickest and easiest flowers from which you can harvest and save seeds. And they produce many seeds per plant, so you shouldn't have to purchase seeds or nursery plants if you want to continue growing zinnias. You also might have enough seeds that you could consider giving some away as gifts.

Open-Pollinated Vs. Hybrid

Before you begin, it's important to know whether your zinnias are open-pollinated plants or hybrids. Seeds from hybrid plants typically do not come true to the parent plant, so if you love a specific attribute of the zinnia, such as its double flowers or special colorings, you might be disappointed by the offspring of hybrid zinnias. Seeds from open-pollinated plants, though, will grow true to the parent plant, so it makes sense to harvest those seeds.

The following zinnia varieties are open-pollinated, meaning they will grow to look the same as the parent plants from which their seeds came:

• Green Envy
• Cactus Bright Jewels
• Canary Bird
• Candy Cane
• Lilliput
• California Giant
• State Fair Mix
• Cut n Come Again
• Red Spider
• Jazzy Mix

Before Getting Started

Seed saving requires a little planning if you want to make sure that your open-pollinated seeds remain pure since zinnias from different varieties can be cross-pollinated by insects. If you have a lot of space, like a farm, plant one variety per half-mile. For most of us, though, that's not feasible. Instead, bag or cage several flower buds before they bloom to prevent accidental cross-pollination. Leave the bag on until the flower is done blooming.

You will have to put up with some unsightliness as you wait for the flowers to dry on your plants, but that's how you allow the seeds to ripen. Make sure to select plants that are healthy. For instance, powdery mildew can transfer to seeds, so don't save seeds from plants with disease. The good news is for an average-size garden, you will generally only need a few blooms' worth of seeds to have enough to plant the next year. You can remove the rest of the flowers before they turn unsightly. Moreover, if you have a large garden bed, you can opt to save seeds from plants away from the edge of the bed, so the drying flowers are less noticeable.