What’s not to love about zinnias? Organic seed farmer and breeder Don Tipping of Siskiyou Seeds and I both vote an emphatic “yes” in favor of making zinnias a part of every garden year.

But what goes into creating the diversity of zinnia colors and forms and sizes? And what are some new looking ones that you might want to try in 2024? 

Don Tipping founded Siskiyou Seeds, a family run farm-based seed company, in 1997. His farm with a view is located at 2,000 feet of elevation in the Siskiyou Mountains of southwest Oregon, and has close to 1,000 varieties of vegetables, herbs, and flowers in its collection. As if that were not enough, Don creates a YouTube channel of how-to videos and a long-running blog, and hosts multiple on-farm trainings for gardeners and farmers each year.

We talked about the beloved annual flower, the zinnia.  

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