![]() ![]() Once the petals of your zinnia flowers have begun to die back and the flower head begins to turn brown, you’ll notice when you take your fingers and gently pull apart the flower head that there will be hundreds of thin, flat, brown seeds. How to Save Zinnia Seed Collecting zinnia seeds is a very simple process. With zinnias, both the disk flowers (the center) and the ray flowers (the petals) will go on to produce seed if pollinated properly. Sometimes ray flowers are sterile and will not produce seeds. Ray flowers are usually the “petals” to our eyes, while the disk flowers make up the center of the flower. Think about the giant brown centers of sunflowers-these are actually hundreds of disk flowers. You’ll find other popular garden flowers, like sunflowers and rudbeckias, in this family, too.Ĭomposite flowers are made up of many disk flowers and ray flowers. This is a characteristic of the plant family Asteraceae that zinnias belong to. Zinnia Flower Anatomy Zinnias are composite flowers that consist of multiple flowers in one blossom.Īnother interesting tidbit about zinnias is that the flower you see is actually multiple flowers within one giant composite flower. This is opposed to biennials or perennials which take 2+ years to complete their life cycles. Basically, the plant completes its life cycle in one year. It then sets seed before dying after a hard frost in the Fall. ![]() What does “annual” mean? It means that, as gardeners, we can plant the seed, the plant grows, it produces flowers. Zinnias are herbaceous annuals native to Mexico. ![]()
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