Yes there is a difference between seed you save and seed you buy - these days, shop bought seeds are sealed in special packaging inside the paper packets, the ones we save aren't. Viability of seed over time varies from plant to plant and according to how well they're dried and stored, but its always worth planting them - I once planted 7 year old nasturtium seeds I'd saved in an ordinary sealed envelope, and most of them still grew.

Over the generations, many mixed color flowers will select themselves into a single color, usually whichever is the favorite of the local pollinators. In the Valley of the Sun, where I live, African daisies usually revert to all orange, except for a few areas of town, where they turn all yellow!

I agree with the above. if you are growing a named variety the chance that your seed will come true is low. if you are growing a species then there will be some slight variation in individuals like there is in your own children [if you have them :o) or similarities between siblings]

I regularly save snap dragon seed, pansy, viola, and they come in a range of colours over time.

thanks as always for the advise, as always it will be used and stored away for future use. so as i understand it ,if i specifically save yellow marigold seeds then they are not forced to be yellow when the come again.

The pollen parent--the seeds' "father"--will have a genetic say in what color they bloom, but if you keep saving seeds from yellow "mothers", the frequency of yellow will climb with each generation,until you have all yellow marigolds. In plant breeding it is called "maternal selection". By doing something similar, one of my customers bucked the trend, and raised African Daisies in a mix of white, pastel apricot, and pink. It took her about five years for that.

thank you so much, that was so interesting, thanks all for solving my question.