At long last some of the wildflowers I planted last year are blooming. I can see that there are frequently bees on them, so hopefully they are being pollinated.
I would like to collect wildflower seeds from flowers that I would like to propagate and then spread them over bare patches to try and fill them in. How do I recognize when the seeds are ready to be harvested? How do I harvest them, just yank the bloom off of the stem? I planted a flower assortment with:
Purple Giant Hyssop, Dwarf Columbine, Siberian Wallflower, Shasta Daisy, Lance-Leaved Coreopsis, Sweet William Pinks, Purple Coneflower, Blanketflower, Gayfeather, Blue Flax, Perennial Lupine, Russell Lupine, Maltese Cross, Dwarf Evening Primrose, Mexican Hat, Dwarf Red Coneflower, Black-Eyed Susan, Moss Verbena
I probably will spread them after the first frost so they grow in the spring.
When all the petals are gone and the seed head starts to dry out, clip it and let it dry.
Then, press the seeds into the soil them at the end of the growing season this year, so they can germinate as early as they want to in the spring. The seeds will survive a frost, but if you wait until spring, weeds will start germinating first and have a head start, then you’ll have to play catch-up pulling them later on.
For things that have a short time between ready and gone with the wind, I use organza bags, like for wedding favors, just put one over the top when it’s almost there and it will collect them without hindering the drying process. Some people use paper bags and twine, but this is cuter.
Excellent, FREE book on seed saving is available for download at the Seed Savers Exchange. [Seedsavers.org)] IIRC
No, it’s by Suzanne Ashworth and David Cavagnaro. sorry, there is no free pdf of it there, but I checked and there is one on annas-archive.org. [Don’t forget to turn on your VPN there, before you download] EDIT: Deleted bad location info, added Anna’s Archive link instead.
How do I recognize when the seeds are ready to be harvested? How do I harvest them, just yank the bloom off of the stem?
flowers have different ways of seeding themselves. the answer depends very much on what their solution to reseeding is. You definitely need to wait for them to dry. Most flowers have dozens, some hundreds of seeds on every fruit(?) With some i just hold a bag under the fruit(?) and shake. With some others i have to actually pluck the grains.
but you don’t need to wait till “after the frost”, you can take the grains and seed them immediately
How did the Moss verbena look?
But love the wildflower love and the pollinator support.
