Collecting Your Own Seeds

How to collect your own seeds from flowerheads in the fall...

Callirhoe involucrata
Item # 28030 		Callirhoe involucrata
Poppy Mallow

each $5.99
3 and more $5.79
Hymenoxys acaulis
Item # 59001 		Hymenoxys acaulis
Sundancer Daisy

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3 to 6 $5.79
7 or more $5.59
  • Topic: Fall Gardening
  • Author: Cindy Bellinger
  • Keywords: fall, collecting, seed, seeds, Fall Gardening, gardens
  • Date: November 2004

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I’ve always loved the story of Johnny Appleseed planting trees wherever he went. And in the children’s book, “Miss Rumphius,” an old lady collects and sows lupine seeds to make the world more beautiful. So a few autumns ago, after enjoying some wild coneflowers growing by a fence, I decided to do the same.

“Can’t you just buy seeds in those little packets?” asked my friend, Brenda, who lives in a second story condo in L.A. and only has one pot of geraniums on her kitchen counter.

Sure, buying seeds is one way. Another way is to collect them yourself. It’s a great way of prolonging the gardening season. Then at the end of winter, planting seeds you’ve collected is a fun to start spring.

Most perennials will set seed from midsummer to late summer. Sometimes the plants raised from seed will be identical to the parent plant, and is called ‘coming true.’ Other times they won’t and the flowers will have a slightly different color.

After flowering, the seed heads form; then they ripen before dispersing the seeds. That is the time to collect them, but do it on a dry day. You don’t want seeds to be damp.

Following is a guide for collecting your own seeds.

To begin, have:

  • piece of paper
  • fine sieve (optional)
  • small envelopes or jars with lids
  • pen

1. Cut the seed heads; place in a paper bag. Take indoors and place them on a piece of paper. Break open the center of each flower and release the seeds by rubbing them between your palms.

2. Clean the seed by removing any surrounding chaff, leaves or debris. You can use a sieve or just blow the chaff away. If the seed is surrounded by a fleshy berry, mash the berries up with some water, and press them through a sieve. Allow the seeds to dry.

3. Place the seeds in an envelope or a jar; seal and label.

4. Store in a dry place until spring.

I’m doing it again this year with a cultivated coneflower. But the question is did I get the wild coneflower seeds to sprout? Well, no. But believe it or not my friend Brenda did. I sent her some, she actually planted them, and they actually grew. Right there on her kitchen counter. Go figure.