Saving Zinnia Seeds

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Saving zinnia seeds

Zinnia flowers are easy to grow and are so beautiful to look at throughout the growing season, plus they make great blooms to cut for arrangements. Even better, they are even easier to harvest seeds from! I’m going to share the steps for saving and storing zinnia seeds so you can enjoy them for years to come…for free!

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How easy is it to save zinnia seeds?

I’ve been growing zinnias for the last few years but will admit I’ve been buying new seeds every year. Normally I have them planted out in the yard in areas surrounded by grass and dirt, but this year, I planted some in a raised planter on our patio. Since they are part of our patio landscape, I noticed as they dropped petals, that there were clearly seeds attached to them. No wonder they’re such a draw for the goldfinches especially—they love the seeds!

I decided to do a little research into what I was seeing exactly and how to go about saving the seeds. Turns out, I’ve been missing out this entire time on free seeds for the following season. So, I set out to learn the ins and outs to share with you…and it couldn’t be easier!

How to Save Zinnia Seeds

You can get a lot of zinnia seeds from just one flower bloom, so it will just depend on how big of a space (or spaces like me) you want to plant with zinnias for how many spent blooms you collect. The rule I was always taught with planting seeds of any kind is to plant four seeds at a time: One for the wind, one for the birds, one to wither, and one to grow. As I looked for the exact saying, I found several iterations on the internet, but you get the picture…you’ll need more than one seed for each spot that you will sow.

How to Collect Zinnia Seeds from the Plant

There are a few ways to collect the zinnia seeds, how you choose to do it will depend on how you like your flowers beds to look.

One of the easiest ways is to cut your pretty zinnia blooms to enjoy indoors! Honestly, you could do this with a farmers market bouquet, if you don’t have any zinnias of your own this year. They last quite a long time in a vase and will dry nicely as the water runs out. Just snip the tops off and toss them into a vessel you’ll sort through at the end of the season.

You can also go through your zinnias as they bloom outdoors and deadhead them as needed. Cut the stem of the blooms and then snip just the top off to save. The handy part of doing it right when the blooms start to wither is that the birds won’t have a chance to take any of the seeds. However, I love to have birds in our yard…and there really are enough seeds to go around. When you collect the seeds this way, you’ll need to lay the blooms out a bit to dry…so they don’t rot.

The easiest way to collect the seeds is to let the blooms completely dry and then cut them off. You can easily snip the heads off the flowers into your container with little worry about them molding or rotting. However, if you leave the blooms on the flowers, again…you will lose a lot to the birds or just to them falling off into the dirt around. I do think they self-sow, though, so maybe that’s not a bad thing.

How to Separate the Zinnia Seeds from the Spent Bloom

Once your flowers are dry, you can start collecting the seeds. I laid a few paper towels out on the table and just pulled the petals off the zinnias. At this point, you will have probably noticed the spear-shaped seeds at the end of the petals, as some may have already fallen out. There are mixed reviews as to whether you should separate the seeds from the petals…some people do, some do not. I enjoyed the calming activity of popping each one off and seeing the pile of seeds grow, so for me, I will separate them. I’m sure it would be fine to leave the petals on too and just plant the whole thing in the spring!

How to Dry and Store Zinnia Seeds

The biggest thing when storing any seeds or plants that you want to remain dormant is making sure they’re dry. If you have a basement, that can be a great place to store them, assuming you have a dark spot down there as well. My plan is to lay the zinnia seeds I collect out onto a flat surface…maybe a cookie sheet…and let them hang out in front of the dehumidifier for a couple of days, making sure they’re nice and dry. From there, I will store them in an airtight container out of the light—thinking our storage room will be the perfect spot.

I’m not collecting and saving a lot of other types of seeds this year, so I think a jar will do for the zinnia seeds. However, if I decide to store more seeds moving forward, I’ll need a better system. I did read that a monthly medicine storage box is a great option and I love this one for our actual supplements…so why not try it for seeds?

Why Save Zinnia Seeds?

The cost of a bag of seeds isn’t so expensive that I couldn’t just buy new ones every year. I have done just that in fact and it’s been fine! After learning how incredibly easy it is to save them, though, there really isn’t a reason that I shouldn’t be doing that. Another reason to save your own seeds is if you have some amazing blooms that you really want to have again. I will admit that not all the seeds packs I’ve gotten have been as good as others. If you save the seeds, you’ll be assured that you’ll at least have a similar yield the following year. Also, if you have certain blooms that you love more than others…just save those seeds, especially since most zinnia seeds come in a mixed pack. You could edit out the ones that you don’t love. Although, I think I love them all…big, small, single petal, multi petal, single colored, striped…

Have I convinced you to save some zinnia seeds yet? I am pretty lazy about a lot of gardening and landscaping activities. I have a personal rule that I won’t grow a plant that I have to dig up the roots or tubers at the end of the season to save for the next. For some reason, that just seems like too much work. I will, however, sit at my dining room table with a bucket of spent zinnia blooms…happily plucking the seeds from the petals. There is something so relaxing about it.

Do you think you’ll start saving zinnia seeds? Maybe you already save seeds and have more tips? I would love for you to share—put it in your Instagram stories and tag me so I can see! You can find me on Instagram at @hilaryprall.