~Saving Zinnia Seeds~

Colorful Zinnias
(File Photo)

If you have been enjoying the colorful beauty of Zinnias in your yard this summer you may want to save the seeds from these plants. Next Spring the saved seeds can be planted in your garden. It could be a repeat of the red, pink, yellow and white flowers that added so much color to your yard this year. 

The process is easy. Snip the colorful flowers from the stems in your garden and place the flowers in a container. The containers I use are cut down tissue boxes. I put the containers of cut Zinnias in our garage while the flowers dry out. The air circulates between the flowers easily while they are drying out.

Zinnias drying out.
(File Photo)

After the flowers dry out it is time to harvest the seeds. Pull the petals from the short stems and you will find tear shaped seeds. Sometimes, the seeds do not break away from the dried petal easily, so I leave the dried petal on the seed and plant "as is" the following Spring. I store the seeds in business sized envelopes that are labeled/ sealed.

Tear Shaped Zinnia Seeds
(File Photo)

When you save the seeds from your current crop of these beautiful flowers you will have so many seeds to plant next year.

Enjoy!
Happy Gardening!