Flowers \ Zinnia \ Red Beauty

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ASCGG Trial Report: Excellent color (5); A great addition to our collection of zinnia varieties to grow; Double flowers, good stem length and size; Color mixed well with many other flowers for bouquets, nice accent, germination was good, plants grew well and didn.t get mildew until late in season when cool weather started, many stems were not cut because they were short, but that made for a nice color in the field, there were still many useful stems; Nice big flower, strong stems; Even colour throughout plants; Prolific, long-blooming; Uniform flower appearance, medium early; Good stem length, plant height and flower production, uniformity of bloom and almost all flowers having a prominent ring of disk flowers; Very good quality, rich red, unlike other fall tones we have late in the season, vigorous plants with almost no mildew problems, even late in the season.

Zinnia Red Beauty is a great addition to our collection of zinnia varieties. Double flowers, good stem length.

Post Harvest Results:
Definitely a beauty! Possesses all the appeal of other zinnia varieties and offers a stunning red to boot. Vase life was 8.7 days, which was similar to average for most cultivars. Maximum vase life of 9.3 days was achieved with a holding solution. Excellent stem length and productivity.

THE 2009 CUT FLOWER TRIALS, H.C. Wien, Department of Horticulture, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853:
As with the snapdragon trials, above, the productivity of zinnias was much better in the summer field trial than in the tunnel trial in the fall. In the case of zinnias, the first plants in the tunnel flowered in the second week of September, so there was only a short growing season left. The field trial began flowering in late June, and so had the whole summer to produce flowering stems.

There were several attractive varieties among these entries. 'Red Beauty' bore a medium sized flower of bright red color and excellent stem length (Fig. 21). 'Benary Giant Wine' continues the good reputation of the series with an interesting red‐purple color (Fig. 22). As with the others of this class, fewer of these large flowers are produced than varieties of smaller size, such as 'Scabious Flowered Mix', for instance (Table 20). The latter did not live up to its description, and its flowers looked like relatively small singles rather than resembling scabiosa. 'Queen Red Lime' featured outer green and inner purple coloring on its medium‐sized flowers, but left something to be desired with regard to uniformity of color and attractiveness. 'Inca' was only grown in the high tunnel, and although its flowers were a bright orange with ragged‐ looking petals, stem length was not impressive. 'Uproar Rose' again impressed with its good height, and large, uniformly double flowers.

Table 20. Stem length, yield and first harvest date (days after sowing) for seven zinnia varieties grown in the tunnel in the fall, and five of which were planted in the field in summer.


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