Hello friends,

I just thought I'd share with you how my Floret zinnia plants have fared over the summer, and all the flowers that have been produced from the various varieties.

This is how the zinnias looked like when I planted them out in the garden in late October 2024. I sowed Floret Dawn Creek blush, Floret Precious Metals, and also Floret Unicorn Mix zinnias that I bought from Emerden Flower Farm back in August 2024. I had 100% sowing success from all the zinnia seeds.

First up we have the Dawn Creek Blush Zinnias:

There's a mix of creams, buttery yellows, and pinky blush tones, they are really beautiful and understated.

Next we have Floret Precious Metals:

The Floret Precious metals, are more pink and purple toned, and when the flowers get older, there is a cool metal sheen on them.

And lastly we have the Floret Unicorn Mix:

The colours for the Unicorn mix are much more bright pinks and yellows and lime greens, and they really stand out in the garden.

All in all, I'm really loving all the varieties that Floret and Dawn Creek have developed. The seeds were super expensive, but the uniqueness of the flowers are worth it in my opinion. I still have some seeds left over for next year, and I plan to seed save from the zinnia varieties when autumn starts in March (on Saturday). If more Floret zinnia seeds become available from Emerden in spring, I plan to pick up a couple more seed packets to increase my seed stash of these beautiful flowers.

Have a wonderful day

Julie-Ann

Want to discuss my post? Feel free to chat with me on Instagram or Mastodon or Bluesky.

Tags: 2025, Dawn Creek, Emerden, Floret, Floret Flower Farm, Flower Garden, Flowers, Garden, Gardening, Zinnia, Zinnias

Hello friends,

Today's dahlia profile is for my Floret Bee's Choice flowers. I bought dahlia and zinnia Floret flower seeds from Emerden in New Zealand last spring, and sowed them in October.

From Floret's Website: "Floret Bee's Choice was collected from all of our different dahlia breeding patches on the farm and includes a wide range of shapes, sizes, and colors—no two plants will be the same! Most of the flowers will have open centers, which will attract lots of pollinators to your garden. If you discover a variety you love, tubers can be saved and planted out the following year." Planted in full sun, plants will reach 48 to 72 in tall.

Floret 1:

Floret 2:

Floret 3:

Floret 4:

Floret 7:

Floret 8:

Floret 10:

As you can see from the Floret Bee's Choice dahlias that have flowered so far, dahlias 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8 all have yellow/orange colouring, with a range of petal numbers, with dahlias 3 and 8 having extra frills. Dahlias 7 and 10 are shades of pink, with dahlia 7 has curled inward petals, and dahlia 10 being pretty plain.

In terms of choosing which dahlias to keep at the end of the season, the only one I definitely want to keep is dahlia 3, with it's yellow/apricot colouring and pretty frills. I'm also kind of tempted by dahlia 8, but I'll see how it looks as the season goes on.

I have really enjoyed the process of dahlia growing from seed, watching the process from germination, to flowering, and I'll definitely collect seed from them in autumn.

Have a wonderful day

Julie-Ann

Want to discuss my post? Feel free to chat with me on Instagram or Mastodon or Bluesky.

Tags: 2025, Dahlia, Dahlia Profile, Dahlias, Floret, Floret Flower Farm, Flowers, Harvest, Harvesting, Seedlings, Seeds, Summer

Hello friends,

A couple of weeks ago I sowed my zinnia and dahlia seeds from Floret, that I purchased from Emerden in New Zealand. And yes, if you may have noticed, I ended up ordering a third zinnia variety from Floret, their Unicorn Mix.

I sowed all the seeds in dome propagating trays, along with dahlia varieties including seeds from my favorite Lucky Number dahlia growing in my garden, and also two Keith Hammett dahlia varieties (NZ dahlia breeder), NZ Gardener mix (from the NZ gardener magazine), and also Dahlia Beeline II. I'm considering crossing the Keith Hammett and Floret dahlias to see if I can come up with a new amazing variety.

The seedlings all popped up super quick while living in our warm dining room, and within a couple of weeks they were ready to be potted on into bigger individual pots with potting mix. The seed sowing strike rate was higher than advertised on the packets, so I'm really happy with the investment.

They're now safely growing in my glass house, and are covered in frost cloth each night for protection. I can't wait for when they get big enough to plant out in the garden.

Have a wonderful day

Julie-Ann

Want to discuss my post? Feel free to chat with me on Instagram or Mastodon or Bluesky.

Tags: 2024, Dahlia, Dahlias, Floret, Floret Flower Farm, Seed Sowing, Seedlings, Seeds, Spring, Zinnia, Zinnias