Tammy, I notice that most seed companies deliberately omit mentioning that Swizzles are Fl hybrids, although the high cost per seed is a tip off. But Swizzles are an F1 hybrid zinnia and, consequently, they will not come true from saved seed, because your saved seed will be an F2 generation. Some of the F2s may be very similar to the parent, but most will vary in some way, including the height of the plants. Even open pollinated zinnias are somewhat variable, because they are bee pollinated and a percentage of bee pollinations are random F1 hybrids, since bees visit all of the zinnias in the vicinity, including nearby neighbor's zinnias, and they carry a mixture of pollen from all of the zinnias they have visited. I wouldn't hesitate to save seeds from Swizzles myself, because breeding zinnias is a hobby of mine, and I enjoy variations and surprises. But if you are trying for a uniform looking landscape bed, use the original F1 seeds. ZM

Maybe the sellers self-pollinated the flowers, and then covered the flower to prevent insect pollination?

Hey there ymaddox! I'm actually the one that created/posted that. Glad you found it interesting- and hopefully helpful ;-) I'm still collecting info for the database, though I haven't been posting about it all that much. Quite frankly some of the comments it has elicited has discouraged me a bit from doing more. Some people will chew one out for daring to grow a patented plant or hybrid from seed and for hoping it might look something like the original parent plant. Sometimes the negativity and objections can get overwhelming. Lately I have been looking up a lot online and in books and mags for info and am adding that whenever I find it. I did a post a thread on this forum (WS) awhile back where folks could post their own findings. Didn't get to many replies...maybe I will have to dig it up again sometime. Anyone that has info can post it there or even email me privately with that info- I would love to hear it! I still hope to continue on with the project... If you don't care what the seedlings end up looking like or what parent plant they sprung from was named that is fine. If you only care to grow species, heirlooms, op varieties, etc there isn't anything wrong with that either. If you would rather buy genetically pure plants from a reliable nursery or source that is entirely your prerogative (although there are cases where even tissue cultured plants will end up different looking. Take a look at how Geranium 'Double Jewel' came to be: here-Ghraham Rice's Blog So even those methods are not always accurate!) . Some get a kick out of growing hybrids/named cultivars. I happen to think that is okay too. Some folks to like taking notes (like me, I love taking notes, especially anything garden or plant related! Seriously, my computer desk is covered in sticky notes with plant names scrawled all over them, lol) on those results and some don't. No problem either way. I had hoped there might be a few on the forums like me who also liked jotting down notes on plants from seed and sharing their findings on this subject with others. A lot of people have been taking this far more seriously than they should and seem to misunderstand the point of it. I created this list both for fun AND to try and have a good resource for those who like to grow hybrids/named cultivars from seed but would like to have some starting idea if there is any possibility the seedlings will look the same or even remotely similar to the parent cultivar or if it absolutely will not. Hasn't everyone at some point looked at a spot in their garden and said to themselves "a gold leafed plant would be nice there"/ "I need something two feet tall here and no more" or some such? Now combine that with the fact that not everybody has the $ or willingness to buy a 'pure/true' plant from the nursery or can't find their particular want where they live and so would like to try growing it from seed. No harm in that either. My whole point here is that it was meant for the fun and experimentation and for JOY OF LEARNING! It thrills me to no end growing things from seed and seeing what comes of it, sharing my findings when others are looking for that info, and learning from them in the process too! Anyhoo, you are probably sick of reading all this rambling, so I will stop, LOL. If anyone wants to contribute to the database just shoot me an email or dig up the post here about it and I will be VERY happy to add it! Thanks. CMK

Sue, My point of view is that folks should always try but know that they may not get exactly what the parent plant looked like. In a lot of cases, I've seen folks discourage others by saying the seeds of one plant will not come true to the parent, yet I've tried it and the results were good. As an example, I was told that the seeds Echinacea Double Decker would not come true. Sure enough, the first couple of years there was no 'deck', but when the plant truly matured in the third year, the deck was there. In terms of Hostas, I did a lot of Francis Williams this past year. True, the variegation is not showing on the little ones, but the width of the leaf and it's thickness is certainly there and the colour is a nice green. Another is Lorraine Sunshine. From the batch of seeds I received three years ago, 1/2 grew with the variegated leaves. One plant is my favourite - the leaves are all green except for a white outer edge. Nice! I kept even the non-variegated. They are nice plants. And this year I noticed that the variegated which I had separated from the others in the gardens reseeded and produced more true Lorraine Sunshines. I guess I'm a patient gardener. I will always try for a couple of years to get what I want from seed. By that time, if it's still a no-go, the price of the plant has gone down and I can buy lots!! :)