~Saving Zinnia Seeds!~

Beautiful Zinnias!

Do you have beautiful colorful Zinnias growing in your garden(s)?  Are you interested in enjoying the flowers again next summer?  You can next year without purchasing new seed packets or small plants from your garden center!  Save the seeds from this year's pretty flowers and plant the seeds in the Spring after any possibility of frost in your area is gone.  

Saving the seeds is not difficult!  It's at this time of year that I snip the colorful flowers from the plants growing outdoors and save them in cut down Kleenex boxes, so the flowers can dry out. 

Colorful Zinnia blossoms drying out!

After the flowers dry out, harvest the seeds by pulling them away from the stems of the plant.  The seeds are "tear" shaped.

Blue arrows point
to the dried out Zinnia seeds!

After harvesting the seeds place them in large labeled envelopes and seal.  You are on your way to enjoying beautiful colorful Zinnias again next year.

Enjoy!
Happy Gardening!

 

A Welcome Visitor!

Colorful Zinnias grown from last year's saved seeds!

Every year in September I snip some of the colorful Zinnia blossoms from the stems.  The blossoms are dried out and then the Zinnia seeds are harvested and saved for next year's crop.  

The dried Zinnia seeds

The following Spring, usually in late May, the seeds are planted.  Before we know it the little green sprouts have 3 to 4 sets of leaves.  They are on their way to add color to our gardens.

Today it was great to see an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly fly in for a visit!
 

That is a great perk!  The colorful Zinnias also attract Monarch Butterflies and we have seen Hummingbirds visit.  

 Do you have Zinnias blossoming in your gardens?  Do you save seeds to plant the following year?  It is easy to do.

Enjoy!
Happy gardening!

Saving Zinnia Seeds

Our bountiful Zinnia harvest!
September 2022

It's apple season in New England! Pumpkins and Butternut Squash are now available, too!  That can only mean one thing.  It's time to save the Zinnia seeds from the plants that are blossoming in our garden. I save seeds from one year's crop to plant in the garden the next year.  It's the perfect time to harvest the seeds.  

The process is very easy:

Snip the colorful flowers (that are blossoming) from the green stems and place the cut flowers in a flat container to dry out.  I use cut down Kleenex boxes.  By sniping the fresh flowers I am able to choose what color Zinnias I am saving.  The boxes are placed on a shelf in our garage. The air circulates between the flowers and they dry out very well.  Some petals turn brown.

Colorful Zinnia flowers will be drying out.
(File Photo)

 
After they dry out, it's time to harvest the seeds from the dried out blossom.  Pull the petals from the short stems and you will find the cherished tear shaped seeds to plant in your garden the next year. I store the seeds in a business sized white labeled/ sealed envelope.  Usually, I need more than one envelope.  There are times when it is difficult to separate the seed from the dried petal, so I save "as is" and plant the seeds "as is" the following Spring.  It all works very well!

Tear shaped dried out Zinnia seeds
(File Photo)

After continually saving the seeds in September and replanting them, for about 5- 6 years, you will find the blossoms from the saved seeds getting smaller.  That is the clue to purchase commercialy packaged seeds from your garden center the following Spring.  After planting the new seeds and enjoying the beautiful colorful flowers, save the seeds again in September.

If you have Zinnias blossoming now, save the seeds for next year's beautiful garden!  It has been a tradition in my family- a tradition for decades.  Zinnias have always been a favorite flower!

Enjoy!
Happy Gardening!      

~Saving Zinnia Seeds~

Zinnias
2021

We've been enjoying our colorful, beautiful Zinnias in our gardens all summer.  Now, it's time to save the seeds from this year's flowers.  You guessed it!  I am already thinking about next year's bountiful crop.  For that reason this past week many colorful flowers were snipped from the plants and placed in cut down tissue boxes.  These snipped flowers are drying out in our garage.   

Every year during the month of September I continue this tradition.  The red, pink, orange and yellow snipped flowers will dry out and then I will be able to separate the "tear shaped" seeds from the dried out petals.  

Saved Zinnia Seeds
(File Photo)

 
Then, the Zinnia seeds will be stored in labeled sealed envelopes.  It's amazing how many seeds a gardener can harvest!  After 5- 6 years the colorful flowers become smaller, so I purchase new seed packs the following Spring.  The process continues for another 5- 6 years. 

It's great to plan ahead!
Enjoy!          

Saving Zinnia Seeds!

The cooler mornings are here!  It's great that we are not in yet another heat wave.  The beautiful Zinnias and Marigolds have added so much color to our yard again this year.  Now, it's time for me to start snipping the colorful Zinnia blossoms to save and then dry out.  Attached to the flowers' petals are the seeds for next year's beautiful crop.  This weekend I started harvesting the colorful blossoms.  I snip them when there are not bees buzzing in the immediate area.  Some flowers are yellow and pink.  Others are white, beige and red.  What a colorful assortment!  It's great to choose what colors to have next year.

The snipped blossoms will dry out in cut down Kleenex boxes in our garage.  In a few weeks after the flowers are dried, I'll pull the "tear" shaped seeds from the dried petals and then save the seeds in a labeled envelope.

"Tear" Shaped Zinnia Seeds
(File Photo)

This has been a tradition of mine for, well, years.  I guess, decades.  While growing up my family had two large veggie gardens.  At the end of one of the gardens we planted three rows of Zinnias.  They were just gorgeous!  In autumn we always saved enough seeds to plant the following year for the following crop.

No longer do I take care of a veggie garden.  We purchase our supply at the local farm.  However, bring on the colorful flowers that brighten any day any week in the summer and in autumn!

I'm planning ahead for next year!
Enjoy!

           

Bright Colors!

It's a beautiful September evening!  Walking up our driveway a group of many brightly colored Zinnias greet us on the right hand side.  The reds, the yellows, the pinks and the oranges are just beautiful!

This is also a reminder to me to save the seeds from this year's crop.  These Zinnias were grown from saved seeds harvested from last year.

Soon, it will be time.  For now, we are enjoying the bright colored flowers!!

Enjoy!

    

Saving Zinnia Seeds

This summer and now in autumn we've been enjoying the colorful, abundant Zinnia blossoms in our gardens.  Shades of pink, yellow, orange and white blossoms were admired day after day.  Now that October is here it is only a matter of time when a frost will end the Zinnia season!  It has not happened yet, but that is in the near future.

For that reason I've been snipping off the colorful blossoms to save.  Then, they are dried.  Cut down tissue boxes make great storage boxes for the blossoms to dry out.

Looking at the first box of my collected colorful blossoms, I noticed that there were no white ones.  Another trip to the garden and a few more blossoms were snipped- this time only white ones.

The flowers are now dried, so next week the seeds will be harvested from the dried blossoms.   To do this:  Pull the dried petals off the flower and "tear drop" shaped seeds will be found.  These are the seeds to plant for next year.  I will store them in a labelled sealed envelope.  Next spring they will be planted in our gardens. 

This has become a tradition with me- saving the Zinnia seeds.  After saving and then planting the saved seeds for about 5 years, the flower blossoms will become smaller.  That is my clue to purchase new seed packets to plant the next year.  Then, the saving and replanting starts again.

Enjoy!
Happy Gardening!

           

Harvesting Zinnia Seeds

The bright red, yellow, pink & orange Zinnias blossomed all summer!  So many vibrant colors!  Each seed planted grew into a very bushy plant with so many bright blossoms & buds.  Combined with the Marigolds that were planted in front of them, our side garden has been enjoyed by our neighbors, too!  Especially our next door neighbors! 

Now that Autumn is here, it's time to save the Zinnia seeds from this year's crop!  What might seem like quite a chore, really is not at all.  When the colorful Zinnia blossoms have a dried out look, snip off the flowers from the stems of the plant. 

***I harvest the seeds before we get a good hard frost here in my area of Western Mass!  That frost will end my Zinnia crop.  Our weather will change & it will get colder. 
 

With a gentle breeze blowing!

A tissue box that has been cut down is the perfect container for the flowers, so they can continue the drying process.  Place those dried out looking flowers in the tissue box.  My container is sitting on the sunny window sill in our Family Room.  Those seeds that were harvested are the source for some of next year's colorful gardens! 

After the blossoms are dried, pull off the outer flower petals.  Discard the remaining parts.  Each dried petal is attached to a "tear shaped" seed.  After planting that seed next year, it will grow into a Zinnia plant.  There is next year's crop!  Sweet! 

"Tear Shaped" Zinnia Seeds attached to dried petals.
(File Photo)

I remove the dried petals from the seeds - as much as I can.  Those dried seeds will be stored in sealed labelled paper envelopes.  Next spring, after the rows in our gardens have been created for the seeds, I'll place the Zinnia seeds in the ground & cover with a light coating of soil.  Then, pat the soil gently.  Every day they will need to be watered.  Before you know it there will be sprouts!  Those little green plants will need to be thinned out.  When any plants are 5"- 6" tall, they can be transplanted to other parts of the yard.  The process will start again!     

Harvesting & saving Zinnia Seeds is a yearly tradition with me.  In any given year if I find that the flowers are much smaller than the previous crop, I take the clue.  The following year I'll purchase newly commercially packaged seeds for that year's colorful gorgeous Zinnias in our yard.

Do you harvest & save seeds for the next year's crop? 

I Enjoy it!