Saving flower seeds

 

I love flowers in the garden!  There is just something so refreshing and calming for me as I stroll my garden filled with flowers scattered amongst the vegetables and fruits.  Oftentimes there are bees buzzing and butterflies flitting amongst the flowers too.  I think that the flowers add a very pretty touch to the vegetable garden.

A few years ago, I planted a little 3 foot X 2 foot bed on the garden front with some wildflower seeds from a home improvement store.  From that little patch, we have had flowers appear all around the garden – some planted intentionally and some not.

   seeds ready to be gathered

Last summer, I decided to gather some seeds to save for the new garden season.  When I started planting the new spring garden, I added those saved seeds to the wildflower section.  This year I’ve been gathering more to save for next year.

 

It’s really very simple to save the seeds from these wildflowers.  When I notice that the flowers have these dry looking seeds exposed, I simply gather them into my hands.  Usually I will sprinkle some around the garden right then so that more flowers will produce.  The rest of the seeds go into a storage bag to be stored until the spring.

I stored the seeds in my seed basket and the orange colored flower seeds did fine.  However, my zinnia seeds which I had stored the same way looked moldy.  I think I may try to store them in the refrigerator next time.  Next year, I will buy more zinnia seeds to add to the orange flowers that have reseeded themselves and to the flower seeds that I sprinkle around.

Because in my opinion, you can’t ever have too many flowers! 

 

Do you save flower seeds?