Double Faced Zinnia

Fascinating, and yes .. cute :o)

I adore Zinnias...:>)

Thank you. This was my real first go at them, at what performers! I loved this big unusual one, like a double yolk egg. :-)

Bit of a strange one, with the double face.

Isn't it? I just thought it was so interesting.

oops a twin :)

:-) LOL

Had echinacea with deformities in the last garden...wonder if it's from fungi or insects? Love the yellow...and you're right...it is kinda cute. Zinnias are on my planning sheet...looking for drought tolerant plants for my very dry front garden.

Easy bright and fun. I adored it throughout the season. I wonder if cold can be listed with those other causes of deformity?

it certainly is a possibility..but this happened in the heat of summer when insects and fungus are at their height. It was so bizarre that I posted a question here on goY...but nobody had that problem at the time..nobody but me! I thought that it might be a larva of some type and eggs may have been laid on the flowerhead...with the resultant deformation of the flower when they hatched and burrowed into the cone...I took a few of the deformed cones apart but couldn't find any larvae...maybe it is a virus? I know plant viruses take over the cell structure in leaves and stems...perhaps the pollen glands are susceptible to it? they were the grim looking creatures and the plants looked like they'd had growth hormone sprayed on them...they grew in wierd contortions...just had a thought...never liked my neighbours much and it is like them to spray defoliant ...I wonder???? (neighbour used to go out after midnight with a hand pump and spray his lawn that I swear was soaked in the stuff!) They made no bones about disliking my front garden. Sure am glad to be here...

That kind of neighbor is hard to tolerate, not that they spray, just the picky in your business type. I love rural life and that is one of the reasons. The spray could have been the culprit easily, or there could have been a hormone issue. That would cause things to happen at the wrong time or incorrectly. I think the most likely thing is a catalyst (perhaps the spray) for untimely hormone production and the poor thing didn't know which way was up. This is especially likely as it occured in the same plant only one year.

Yes, really a beauty i thought. Thank you. :-)