Hi, Burton - The Fantasy zinnias are (or at least were recently)available from a couple of seed companies - Botanical Interests and Fredonia Seeds. I've linked to an online garden store below that lists the Botanical Interests packet. Here's the URL of an online garden shop that sells the Fredonia packet:
http://dansgardenshop.com/giant.html

You might also find similar varieties listed as "cactus flowered" or "cactus zinnias." I know that Renee's Garden carries a variety called "Raggedy Ann" that might be similar to the Fantasy series.

Nobody seems to be carrying Crown of Gold anymore. I checked my Burpee catalogs from the 30s and 40s, and yes, it's one of the Giant Dahlia Flowered varieties. Perhaps if you grew the mix (which seems to be pretty widely available) you might get a Crown of Gold type that you could save seeds from.

Here is a link that might be useful: Zinnia: Cactus Flowered

Cecilia,

"The Fantasy zinnias are (or at least were recently)available from a couple of seed companies - Botanical Interests and Fredonia Seeds."

First of all, excuse my long delay in responding to your message. The Fantasy zinnias I seek are significantly different from the Fredonia package. I have seen the Renee's Garden "Raggedy Ann" package but its hand painted artwork is not detailed enough to determine whether it is just Cactus Flowered under a different name. The Fredonia packet picture depicts a form of cactus flowered zinnia.

I grew the Fantasy zinnias in the forties and fifties (I am, as they say, "no spring chicken") and I have a clear memory of what they looked like. First of all, they were not "giant flowered" but instead ranged from 3 inches to maybe 4 inches in diameter. Their plant was a bit shorter at 18" to 26" than the cactus flowered zinnias of that time, which ranged from 2 to 3½ feet high under normal growing conditions. But their flower form was much more extreme than the cactus flowered zinnias. The petals were down rolled into almost tubes so that you could scarcely see the back side of the petal. And the petals were extremely non-straight. The petals curved and wrapped around in a "fantastic" way that was quite unusual. The ironic thing is that Fantasy Zinnias won several All-Americal Selections awards: Fantasy Mixture in 1935, Fantasy Stardust in 1937 (as I recall, that was an interesting lavendar), and Fantasy White Light in 1939. White zinnias are good for several reasons and I really wish I could get some Fantasy White Light seeds for use in crossing with other zinnias.

In a world where we have heirloom seeds of varieties that go back into the 1700s, I am really frustrated that we seem to have lost a bunch of relatively recent by comparison zinnia varieties that won All-America Selections awards. Incidentally, zinnia Black Ruby, which won All-America in 1941, is another remarkable zinnia that seems to have vanished. It was a deep maroon-purple that was almost black. The flowers were small but hybridization and re-selection should have been able to move that "black" color up into the larger flowered forms.

Your suggestion to grow a lot of Giant Dahlia Flowered zinnias might work in recovering Crown of Gold. I notice that Burpee has tried to re-invent their Burpeanna zinnias by re-selecting them from cactus flowered mixes. I think it is ironic and a bit sad that Burpee has let so many of their best zinnia varieties pass into extinction.

Well, a belated thanks for your response. I didn't have much room for zinnias this year, but planted some Peter Pans and the "new" Burpeannas and they did fine. If I had a lot of space I would try to recover Crown-of-Gold from Dahlia Flowered Mixed, but so far that much space isn't available. But I am continuing to look for a source of those "heirloom" zinnias.

MM

Actually, "Crown of Gold" Zinnia doesn't seem to have won the All-America award:
All-America Selections List.
I don't see it on the list, although there is a 1937 "Crown of Gold" Marigold and a 1938 "Golden Crown" Calliopsis, among other similar names.

Zinnias are what flowers should look like.

MisterCross,

"Actually, "Crown of Gold" Zinnia doesn't seem to have won the All-America award:"

You're right. My recollection that Crown of Gold received an AAS award was faulty. It's possible it received one of the British or European awards, but I somehow doubt that.

But in any case, it was a nice unique zinnia. All of the Whirligig/Merry-Go-Round/Swizzle type zinnias have a base color consisting of magenta, red, pink, or related colors, probably all based on varying amounts of the same magenta-reddish pigmentation combined or not with yellow. The Crown of Golds put a different golden yellow pigmentation at the base on the petals and may have at least partially excluded the tip color from that area. Crown of Golds added new possibilities to the zinnia breeder's genetic palette.

"Zinnias are what flowers should look like."

You'll get no argument from me on that. I like their diversity of flower form, extended color range, variety of plant habits, the long duration of each bloom and the extended blooming season. And ease of germination and fast growth. Now if we could just get the genetic engineers to transplant a few of those Marigold foliage genes over to Zinnias we would have something.

MM