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How to Save Zinnia Seeds
How to Grow and Save Zinnia Seeds
At Seed Savers Exchange, it’s no secret that we love zinnias. Just take a look at the 2026 seed catalog cover! What makes zinnias so great?
- Easy to grow
- Quick to bloom
- Very productive
- Low-maintenance
- Resistant to deer
- Long lasting blooms from summer until frost
- Long vase life
- Favorite of pollinators, especially bees and butterflies
What more could you ask for?
But zinnias are not just rewarding in the garden and in floral arrangements and bouquets; it’s also easy to save their seeds. Zinnias produce seeds at its bases of their petals. Depending on the variety, one zinnia flower may yield dozens of seeds!
How to grow zinnia seeds
Time of planting
Direct-sow after the danger of frost has passed.
Alternatively, extend their blooming season by starting seeds indoors 4-6 weeks before the last frost date.
Learn more about seed starting
Spacing requirements
Plant ⅛-¼” deep. Overseed to account for uneven germination, then thin to 10-12″ apart once the seedlings have developed their first set of true leaves.
You may also choose to space plants tighter to encourage taller, straighter stems.
Light requirements
Full sun (6-8 hours daily)
Time to germination
7-14 days (but often earlier!)
Time to flower
8 weeks (sometimes even earlier!)
Plant care
Zinnias prefer well-drained soil. Water consistently throughout the season, or when the top inch of the soil is dry. Water at the base of the plant to keep the leaves dry. Use mulch to retain moisture and suppress weeds.
Common pests and diseases
Powdery mildew. Provide good airflow around plants and water consistently.
Special considerations
Pinching recommended
Pinching is the act of snipping off the growing tip of a young plant to encourage the plant to produce more stems—and more blooms—throughout the season. Once the plant is 6-8 inches tall and has several sets of leaves, remove the top 1-2 inches of the main stem just above a leaf node (where leaves emerge from the stem).
Additional support
Plants may require additional support, like corralling or staking.
Deadheading
Deadhead spent flowers to encourage more blooms, just above a leaf node. Often you will already see new blooms starting to emerge from leaf nodes below the spent flower.
Harvesting fresh
When the stem below the flower head is stiff and firm. Use sharp, clean pruners to cut the stem of the flower just above a leaf node. Always cut stems at a 45-degree angle to increase surface area for water uptake. Remove the stem foliage. Place stems immediately into a container of cool water for a few hours before working with the flowers.
Every couple of days, replace the water in the vase and give the stems a fresh 1-2 inch cut.
Tip: Make “flower food” to increase vase life. To do this, combine four cups of warm water with two tablespoons of sugar and one tablespoon of vinegar. Stir the mixture until the sugar fully dissolves.
How to save zinnia seeds
Zinnia flower structure
Zinnias are members of the Aster family and are composite flowers, meaning that each flower head is actually made up of many individual flowers, or florets. Each zinnia is made up of two different types of florets, both of which are capable of producing seeds:
Ray florets are what we would consider the outer petals of a zinnia, and can only receive pollen. Some varieties of zinnia have one single row of ray florets and some varieties have many. Each individual ray floret has a pollen-receiving stigma attached to an ovary that, when pollinated, develops into a seed.
Disc florets comprise the centers of zinnias and can produce AND receive pollen. Disc florets open from the outside to the inside of a zinnia. When a disc floret is in bloom, it produces pollen and appears as a tiny yellow flower. When that bloom fades, it leaves behind a pollen-receiving stigma, similar in appearance to that of a ray floret. When the stigma of a disc floret is pollinated, it will produce a seed.
Isolation distance
Isolation distance is the space needed between different varieties of the same species to prevent unwanted cross-pollination. To save seeds from a specific variety of zinnias, make sure the variety is planted at least several hundred feet from other zinnia types, or grow one zinnia variety per season.
Zinnias are self-pollinating, meaning they don’t require insect pollination to produce seeds, so you can also use physical isolation methods such as isolation cages and bloom bags. Be sure to place any bloom bags over the flower before any petals open (when the flower head looks like a dragon egg).
Learn more about isolation methods
Zinnia hand-pollination
If going the route of physical barriers for isolation, hand-pollination helps to ensure successful pollination. To hand-pollinate zinnias, use tweezers to remove the central bright-yellow disk florets (pollen producers), and apply them to the pollen-receiving stigmas of the ray florets. Each petal (ray floret) has its own stigma as has the potential to produce its own seed.
Zinnia cross-pollination
It can also be a fun experiment to save zinnia seeds that may have cross-pollinated with other varieties or colors! Doing so can create new variations in color, such as an ombre effect.
The color variations in the photo below were created by allowing the flowers of all different colors from the ‘SSE Zinnia Mix’ to cross-pollinate via insects. When grown the following year, some of the seeds saved from the cross-pollinated ‘SSE Zinnia Mix’ bloomed into beautiful color variations.
When to harvest
Harvest the seed heads (the entire flower head) when they are completely dry on the plant and the stem below the head turns brown.
How to harvest
Harvest seed heads into buckets, bowls, or breathable containers like cotton or paper bags. Try to collect the seeds on a dry, sunny day to reduce the risk of mold or spoilage.
Processing
Threshing
Gently crumble and rub the seed heads with your hands to release the seeds from the rest of the plant, or the chaff. This step is called threshing.
Winnowing
Then, use a fan or your breath to further separate the mature seeds from the chaff and immature seeds, a process called winnowing.
Winnowing zinnia seeds improves their quality by removing any immature seeds, which can negatively affect your germination rates. Plant chaff may also carry disease, insect eggs, and excess moisture.
To winnow or not to winnow?
While winnowing zinnia seeds has benefits, it can be difficult to clean them completely, and it isn’t necessary for home gardeners! If you are saving the zinnia seeds for your own use, you can skip the winnowing step after threshing the seed heads. The following year, scatter the seeds, allowing the remaining chaff to act as a mulch.
However, if you are saving zinnia seeds for gifts or for long-term storage, get the seeds as clean as possible.
Drying and storage
After threshing and winnowing the zinnia seeds, dry them in a thin layer out of direct sunlight for at least three weeks. Run your fingers through the seeds once or twice a day to allow good airflow.
Once completely dry, store the seeds in a cool, dark, dry place. Airtight containers such as sealed envelopes and glass jars work well. Label the seeds with the variety and year grown. Learn more about seed storage.
Shop zinnia seeds
When you make a purchase from Seed Savers Exchange, you help fulfill our nonprofit mission to protect our food and garden heritage.
Benary’s Giant – Best Seller!
Magnificent when in bloom and easy to grow, this beautiful, large-flowered strain of zinnia is from Ernst Benary, one of the oldest German seed companies (founded in Erfurt in 1843). Its fully double blossoms measure 4-5″ across and come in a wide array of colors. The long stems of this annual make it ideal for use as a cut flower in arrangements and bouquets.
Shop ‘Benary’s Giant’ zinnia seeds
Envy
The bright, truly unique semi-double blooms of this heirloom promise to make your flower beds, containers, and borders the talk of the neighborhood! This variety’s vivid chartreuse color complements brighter summer flowers with style and harmonizes equally well with soft pastels. These easy-to grow zinnias reach up to 30″ in height, prefer warm weather and full sun, and make a perfect addition to cut-flower arrangements.
Persian Carpets Mix
Listed by many companies earlier this century as Mexican Hybrids. Beautiful semi-double flowers with mahogany, orange, gold, cream, and many bicolored blossoms. Plants grow 24-28 inches tall and produce petite, long-lasting blooms. Very good for cutting. Resists mildew. AAS winner in 1952.
Shop ‘Persian Carpets’ zinnia seeds
SSE Mix
Seed Savers Exchange created our very own zinnia mix with these proven varieties from Applewood Seed Company. Fast-growing plants reach 30-40″ tall and produce a plethora of long-blooming, 4-5″ flowers perfect for bouquets. Also excellent for drawing pollinators to your garden, zinnias especially appeal to butterflies.
Luminosa
Large and lovely, this truly delightful zinnia makes a bold statement in any garden, border, or container with its massive pink petals. Perhaps even better? Its bountiful blossoms last for days and attract bees, butterflies, and other pollinators throughout the summer months. Easy to grow and easy to love, this zinnia also makes a memorable addition to cut-flower bouquets.
Jazzy Mix
As its name suggests, this variety is a visual standout, even in the colorful world of zinnias. A kaleidoscopic array of petal colors yellow, cream, chestnut, and rosy red make it a festive selection for bouquets, as well as garden beds and borders. Plants grow 20″ tall with semi-double, 1½” flowers that bloom from summer into fall.