It’s fall in the Mid-Atlantic zone 7a, the temperature has dropped
about 20 degrees in the past week, and for me this is the time to start saving
seeds for my garden next year and for sharing with other gardeners and friends.
What to save
When I grow flowers that I really like, saving the seeds
allows me to grow the plants again next year without spending money buying
seeds over the winter. One flower I love growing are zinnias. They are really
colorful in the yard, come in so many varieties, attract butterflies and make
beautiful bouquets throughout the summer and early fall. They are really easy
to direct sow in the spring. If you have a sunny spot in your yard, give
zinnias a try!
This year I tried four new varieties-Button box, Green Envy,
State Fair and Benary’s giant purple.
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| Clockwise: Green Envy zinnia, Benary's giant purple zinnia, state fair zinnia, marigold |
I keep it simple. Zinnia and marigold seeds are really easy
to harvest because the seeds are so large. If you have a flower in your yard
that you love, do some research to learn the best way to harvest the seeds for
next season. Some flowers have really tiny seeds that take a little more care
to harvest, but it’s worth trying if it’s a plant you really like.
How to harvest seeds
In order to harvest flower seeds, you have to let the flower
die on the plant. I know, it’s kind of ugly, especially in the middle of the
summer then the zinnias and marigold are looking their best, bursting with new
flowers. That is why I wait until this time of year, when the plants are
starting to get leggy and are starting to die. Let the flowers die on the plant
until they are completely dried out and crunchy. It has been really rainy here
so I have left the flowers on the plants for them to completely dry out. You
don’t want mold growing on the seeds.
Here is a short video I made with the basics of saving zinnia and marigold seeds.
Sometimes the birds
will eat the flower petals, see the photos, but I am okay with that. I am happy
to be a food source for the goldfinches – they LOVE zinnia flower petals. I see
them all summer flitting in and out of the beds.
A warning, though; if you have an unexpected hard frost that
kills the plants, your seed-saving will be impacted. This happened to me last
year. The flowers were zapped overnight by frost so they did not have a chance
to die naturally and develop seeds. This spring I only had a handful of zinnia
seeds available.
Storing and sharing
Be careful to mark the seeds you are saving and keep them
separated. I have many varieties of zinnias this year. When the flowers are
dead, it can be hard to tell what is what. And the seeds all look exactly the
same! One year, I left the some trays holding the seeds out on the patio and
stiff wind came up and blow they all over the place. Second lesson learned –
bring the dead flower pods inside.
