Saving Flower Seeds to Use in Next Year's Garden
I love collecting seeds from favorite flowers to grow in next year's gardens.
Seed saving is the practice of keeping seeds or other reproductive material from flowers, vegetables, grains, and herbs, for use from year to year. It’s a rewarding pastime, a great way to save money, and the most economical way to produce new plants for the garden. It’s also a nice way to share well-loved plants and flowers with family and friends. Just before a brief soaking rainstorm yesterday, my gardeners harvested lots of seeds from some of the season's fading blooms.
Enjoy these photos.
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- Here in my head house, Ryan, Zoe, and Gavin have collected and saved trays and trays of seeds – some still in their attractive pods.
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- Once the seeds are removed from the pods, they can be kept in small envelopes and kept in a cool, dark place until next year.
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- Here is one of the pretty poppies I grew this year – so crisp and white. This poppy has long stems and delicate white blooms. It’s also long flowering and easy to grow.
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- Poppies are pretty flowers in both annual and perennial varieties, and they come in nearly every color of the rainbow.
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- Here is a poppy seed pod, which is what’s left on the stem once the flower blooms and the petals fall off. As the seed heads turn brown with ripeness, it’s time to cut them and harvest the seeds.
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- Each seedpod is carefully cut one by one – some are cut just under the stem to save for later use, while others are cut at the top to expose the seeds inside.
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- Here, the top is cut off to show all the seeds. These seeds can be tossed randomly in the garden to self-sow.
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- Each seedpod can hold more than 200 seeds, which, in nature, eventually shake out on their own as the winds blow.
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- We’ve collected many poppy seedpods from the garden – poppy seeds also come in various shapes and sizes.
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- We organized a few of them by color – this is a tray of light pink and white poppies.
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- These smaller pods are from salmon-colored poppies.
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- Many flowers are still in bloom, but some of the other seeds we saved include these columbines. The columbine plant, Aquilegia, is an easy-to-grow perennial that blooms in a variety of colors during spring. The bell-shaped flowers are a favorite to hummingbirds and may be used in cut-flower arrangements as well. The most striking feature of columbine flowers is the collection of five backward-projecting spurs. Each spur is a petal that has developed into what appears to be a tall, slender, hollow hat. At the very top of each spur, inside, is a gland producing sweet nectar.
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- Here is what it looks like after the flower petals fade. The tube-shaped seed pod is now exposed.
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- The seeds are shaken out of the pods and onto this tray. In nature, strong winds will create a rattling sound from these pods.
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- Inside each seedpod, there are a lot of small, shiny back seeds. The columbine seed “pod” is sturdy and keeps the seeds on the stem for a long time.
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- This is larkspur, another flower I love growing. Larkspur is an annual flower that blooms in late spring and goes to seeds around the middle of July. With airy stalks of blue blossoms, larkspur adds a gracefulness to any garden.
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- The seedpods begin as green tubes that look a lot like miniature pea pods. One pod forms at every point where there was a flower. When the top of the plant finally dries, the pods crack open, beginning at the top of the pod. If left as is, the whole pod will eventually split open, scattering the seeds wherever the winds blow.
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- You should choose pods from the healthiest looking plants – be sure to keep in mind which plants are the tallest and most full during the season.
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- The seeds from the larkspur pods come out easily when the pods are turned over.
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- Here are a few in Ryan’s hand – ready to be preserved for next year.
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- A collection of dried poppy seedpods also look nice gathered in a vase until there is more time to empty and keep the seeds. I hope this inspires you to save a few seeds from your garden, so you can enjoy them for many years to come.
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