Trial: Annual

Year Trialed: 2004 Year of Trial: First (from 2004 report)

Good Qualities

Wonderful cream color (6); High yield (4); Strong stiff long stems, long production period; Very strong stems, Pure white zinnias often look "dirty" but this color was always crisp - I loved using it in mixed bouquets; Nice to brighten bouquets; Good doubleness, even color throughout plants, not too much trouble with brown spots for a light color; Transplanted easily as plugs and grew quickly to fill voids; Another good color, warm white to warm ivory that mixes well in bouquets, smaller flowers, but more consistently double; Mostly double flowers, given a better understanding of this little guy, we may be able to make money with it.

Problems

Powdery mildew (3); No special problems (2); Flower heads too small; The color was not all that exciting and was rarely chosen by the consumer; Cut flowers discolored very quickly, also the same for uncut ones; Multi-branching made it difficult to cut for less experienced cutters; Small, branching flowers and stems.

Postharvest

Hydraflor then Floralife; I placed an assortment of the 'Oklahoma' zinnias in plain water;they looked good for 9 days, house was air conditioned.

Comments

Similar to other Benary zinnias; Will definitely plant again; Healthy plants in a year of disease-producing weather; This made a gorgeous landscape plant; Flower diameter was 1.2 to 2.6 inches wide; Most of the test was spent trying to figure out how to handle this compared to bigger zinnias with longer stems; by the time we figured out how, when and where to cut, they were fizzled; Will not plant again, takes too long to harvest; flowers, some single, some double.

Supplier

Benary Seed 1444 Larson St. Sycamore, IL 60178