Hi ninecrow, I myself don't hybridize morning glories, but we Japanese have long history (about 300 years?) of cultivating morning glories....you can see some strange morning gloriesy at the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Henka Asagao

Ninecrow,

I don't know if they are available on your side of the "pond", but Ona Lee Seeds carries some Japanese morning glory seeds. As saori said, the Japanese have been hybridizing and breeding morning glories for centuries. I think that sometimes they grow them in pots and pinch and train the plants into a form almost like bushes. Ona Lee is sold out of my favorite looking Japanese morning glory, the rare brown/orange Chachamaru, whose picture I have linked below.

MM
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The Japanese have a double morning glory . Also can they cross breed with flying saucers? Asiains have tie dye type colors .

FarmFreedom,

"Also can they cross breed with flying saucers?"

Probably not unless you deliberately transfer the pollen. You most likely could deliberately cross the doubles with most single morning glories. I have no idea what the results would be. I am an amateur zinnia breeder myself, and they are full of surprises.

MM

So what can zinnias be crossed with besides zinnias ? dahlias? marigolds ? sunflowers? others ?

FF,

As far as I know, only crosses between zinnias work. But there are a lot of kinds of zinnias, so there are an almost endless number of crosses that you can do. And I do crosses between crosses, for a lot of variety.

When I was a kid, I tried a lot to cross zinnias and marigolds, but none of them "took". I guess that genetic engineers could do that today, if they wanted to. But maybe people would be afraid to grow anything that could be called a GMO (genetically modified organism). Let's face it, if you can cross a tobacco plant with a firefly, you could cross a zinnia and a marigold.

MM

FF

I haven't crossed a zinnia with a marigold, but I do have a "marigold flowered" zinnia, as you can see from these pictures.

MM
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What a lovely zinnia!
Is the color light greenish yellow?
Do you have other photos of your hybrid zinnias?

Saori,

The fluorescent lighting and light reflected from adjacent foliage made the yellow look more greenish than it is. The actual color is more like a light lemon yellow.

I do have some more photos of unusual hybrid zinnia specimens, and I will post a couple tomorrow. Among other things, I will be experimenting with crossing green zinnias with other colors this year.

MM

Saori,

Thanks for your helpful email offer to identify a source for Chachamaru morning glory seed. I admire the flower, but I won't be needing the seed because I'm not raising or breeding morning glories, at least, not at this time. I'm pretty much focusing my plant breeding energies on zinnias. I mentioned my admiration of Chachamaru as an example to Ninecrow of significant progress in morning glory breeding. But I really appreciate your kindness.

I have several design goals for my zinnia breeding. One of them has to do with single zinnias. I don't think they are particularly attractive in their current forms, and here is a picture of one of my current single zinnias, which is fairly typical of current large single zinnias.

My criticism of single zinnias does not extend to Sakata's Profusion series or to Burpee's Pinwheel series, both of which are landmarks in zinnia breeding. I am hoping to modernize large single zinnias with a new look, such as this current specimen:

The center has been "redesigned" and I hope to further improve on that look.

MM

Hello MM.

Thank you for the beautiful photoes.
I particularly like the single zinnias when they have yellow star like decoration around anthers, like in your first photo.
This one look great and look better than Sakata's profusion to me.
The second one look really unique and gorgeous, not only the shape but also the color.
I love the color, fading towards the center, and faint bluish vein.
Are they perennial in your country?
In Japan, zinnias are treated as annual, although some species are perennial.
At the moment, I'm interested in breeding abutilon.
I haven't get any result yet, only got some seeds from my own hybrid.

I hope you see something special in your zinnia breeding program!

Hello Saori,

Zinnias are treated as annuals here, and they well may be. I do know that some of our "annuals" actually are perennials that aren't hardy in this climate. I'll be building a lean-to greenhouse kit this summer, and the greenhouse may give me the capability of growing a zinnia plant long enough to test its perennial possibilities.

"I hope you see something special in your zinnia breeding program!"

Thanks. A blue zinnia would be good. (Grin.)

Good luck with your abutilon breeding activities.

MM