Almost all the flower plants are annual. They give flowers every year in the same season. Some plants also provide flowers and fruits in every season. Here, the zinnias are annual plants; you will find their flowers between the spring and fall.
Then, they will remain flowerless and will bloom in the following year. It’s a circle that zinnias mostly follow, but will they reseed and come back next year? Let’s find the answer below –
Do zinnias reseed?
Zinnias reseed. Mainly, zinnias are annual plants; they come again every year after you cut the flowers in fall or late spring. They grow each year until you cut the stems or remove the bottom from the ground. Since zinnias are easy to grow and reseed, gardeners love to plant them.
We cut the flower trees every year after they fully bloom and give all the flowers. Mainly in the early fall, gardeners cut their flower trees and help them to regrow again. Like all other flowers, zinnias are also reseeded. They can bloom in the same season in the following year.
According to the University of Wisconsin Extension, zinnias are regrown and reseed every summer. It’s called cut & come in summer. Although the zinnias can regrow and come with flowers every year, you should care for them.
Reseed zinnias might look different than their perennials. They will not ideally look like their origin. It may be slightly different in colors in flowers, or the growth is slower than usual. That’s the difference between reseeding & original zinnias.
Profusion zinnias:
Profusion zinnias also reseed. They will give you annual flowers and will bloom simultaneously every year. Most of the zinnia’s types and species will reseed themselves. It’s an ordinary matter for them to grow and regrow every year.
Profusion zinnias are beautiful flower trees. It will give you flowers and will bloom in a year. When it ends up blooming, it needs to be cut to regrow and reseed.
Are zinnias self-seeding?
Zinnias are mostly self-seeding. You can expect them to grow from the cut flowers. When you re-cut the zinnias and leave the flowers on the ground, they will self-seed with the help of wind and rain. It doesn’t need any external force or maintain regular cultivation.
You can indeed take care of your zinnias and expect them to grow as you want. But the fact is that zinnias are self-seeding. It doesn’t require any extra care for rainy reasons. You can cut the flowers and leave them to regrow there.
It’s recommended to grow the zinnias by the gardeners. It will help you get on track and ensure the best growth. You cannot expect zinnias to grow all the cut flowers, and you will get full of zinnias within a week or month.
Do all zinnias reseed themselves?
All zinnias reseed themselves. It’s not a challenging task for zinnias to reseed; rather, it takes no effort. When you cut the flowers and leave them on the ground, they will go through the soil after a week if there is rain and enough wind.
After that, the wind and rain will let the seeds go through the soil and become flourishing soon. It’s not a scientific way to grow zinnias, but it is happening around us. You can leave the zinnias flowers and expect them to grow and regrow.
Reseeding is not a challenging task for the zinnias. It only needs support from nature and a bit from the gardener. You need to choose the right weather and cut the flowers accordingly.
How do zinnias reproduce?
Zinnias reproduce in different ways. Some are natural; others may need artificial or external effort.
Seeds from Cut Flowers:
The first natural way zinnias reproduce is through the flowers. When you cut the flowers and leave the seeds on the ground, they will reproduce the new zinnias there. Also, the cut area of the zinnias will regrow in the next year.
Seeds from the cut flowers are the first way for zinnias to reproduce. But it can naturally produce the flowers on the cut area. So, you have nothing to worry about the zinnias’ reproduction.
Scatter Seeds:
Some gardeners don’t like to get the zinnias here and there or in unplanned rows. Therefore, they take zinnias seeds in their hands and scatter or leave the seeds in a row. It will also help the zinnias to reproduce when they grow up.
Nature & Weather:
When you cut the flowers or plunk them along with the other parts, it might seem impossible to reproduce the flowers once again. But the truth is different. Nature and weather help the zinnias to produce again every year.
It’s a cycle of zinnias or the annual plant’s habit of coming back with flowers.
When zinnias don’t have any flowers on them, they will start to produce new ones there if they don’t have any stalks. Here the rainy water and the entire nature help the zinnias to survive and regrow.
That’s how it reproduces and comes stalks & flowers in the following year.
How to reseed zinnias?
Following flowering, you can leave the flowers alone and hope that natural forces such as wind and rain will naturally encourage the seed to drop onto the soil surface, or you can push the plant over to “assist” by following the instructions below:
Crush:
If you crush the seed head in your hands and allow the seeds to fall from your fingers randomly, you will have better germination in the spring.
Rake The Soil:
You can also choose to lightly rake the soil to ensure that the seeds have better seed-to-soil contact when they are planted.
Ensure Self-Seeding:
You can also be carefree and let nature take its course if you so choose. Whatever type of gardener you want to be, you can achieve success!
If you want to collect seeds from zinnias or allow them to reseed themselves, you must enable the plant to flower and set seed on its own.
Provide Fertilizer & Water:
It’s not your job to reseed zinnias, but you can help them reseed perfectly. In that case, you need to give enough water and ensure that the seeds get other fertilizers to grow naturally.
The rest will be done automatically. You don’t need to water them or give them any fertilizer in the rainy season. Nature will protect and give the zinnias everything that it needs to reseed and regrow.
Germination:
When you leave the flowers on the ground and let the zinnias reseed, you have to choose the weather wisely. Maybe spring would be the best time for the zinnias to reseed. You can cut the flowers and let them reseed naturally.
Although germination is a natural process, you can take extra care to help it out. It would be better to choose the perfect weather and let nature help your zinnias to reseed.
How to save zinnia seeds for next year?
When your zinnia blooms start to fade, leave them on the plant until they are crispy and brown. During this phase, some petals may begin to fall.
Allowing the blossoms to dry completely enables the plant to mature the seeds. In the meantime, you can leave them till they are completely dry and ready to harvest!
Prune off the dried blossom. Remove any remaining flower petals. Look for seeds near the base of the petals. The arrowhead-shaped seeds are dark gray-brown. You can either leave the petals on or peel them off the seeds.
After removing the petals, pull the flower head. Many seeds are in this flowerhead, pull the material off the skull and lay it on a clean surface. Sort the plant material to find the seeds.
After collecting your seeds, dry them entirely on a level surface outside. My favorite is a Tupperware lid or a plate. I shuffle them every few days to ensure proper air passage. Let them dry for a week.
Can zinnias come back every year?
No, Zinnias can’t come back every year. Zinnias are annuals, which means they will bloom and produce seeds for one season only. The original plant will not return in subsequent years. This signifies that the flowers’ life cycle is complete in a single year.
Zinnias are highly susceptible to frost damage and will perish shortly after the first frost.
If you want blooms in your garden year after year, you must either resow annually or let part of the zinnia flowers fall off naturally and fall to the ground, where they will germinate seeds on their own.
Final Thoughts
Since they are annual plants, zinnias reseed. It’s not a big deal for them to reseed and reproduce the flowers every year. If you leave the flowers with seeds, they will go through the soil with the help of rain and wind. Then, they will start to grow and become fully grown zinnias shortly.