So...come on Canada!! Let's show 'em what we're made of!!!

I need help today on seed collecting. This was my first WS year (and I LOVED it) and I did plant some seeds that I collected late last year. I want to get a good start on the coming year, so what would be good? I collected Portulaca last year that was completely red and the flowers bloomed white, pink and yellow this year...what's up with that? The Nicotiana Deep Purple I collected turned out beautifully, the Prairie Sun Rudbeckia...not so good. Is there any way of being sure what will come back true?

Some of the "new" seeds I planted this year I would love to collect and try again. Zig Zag Zinnas were just georgeous and the Salpigloses did very well. A red Salvia was terrific too - even had a hummingbird visit two days in a row to have a look at them! Also my Dusty Miller was very full after a kinda slow start - filled in very nicely.

Have to head back to work but would love to hear all your recommendations - or, read rather! You all helped so much with my first kick at the garden this year, so come on back!!

Ya I hear ya its a little slow these days, but I bet it'll get more active a little later:)

I'm not a seed collecting pro, but so far this fall i've collected Lupins and Columbine. Both are quite easy to collect, but I have never WS'd them. I'm thinking they'll be easy enough.

Last year I collected some trollius, but had no luck. I thought they had finally sprouted this spring really late, but turns out it just happened to be the same weed in a bunch of the containers resembling trollius :( So I think I collected them too soon, because I have had feedback from others that they are easy to WS. I find its hard to catch the seeds before the pods all "POP" and send seeds elswhere.

Maybe someone could enlighten us on how long seeds have to mature on the stem in order to be viable? do they actually have to be brown and crispy or can you pick them a little green?

My guess at your question about knowing whether or not something will come true from seed or not is that maybe the closer it is to the parent plant or not a hybrid the better chance it has?

Happy Harvesting!

I have already collected many seeds: tomatoes, giant balsam, allium christophii, rose campion, delphinium Blue Elf, red salvia, yellow and white petunias,four o'clocks, shasta daisy to name a few. I have always collected seeds - even before I started gardening - probably some curiosity from my Biology classes. I recently came across some lupin seeds from 1999 and they were 50% viable, so I have a few plants to put in now, and I'll WS some later. I usually 'figure' out where the seeds are and how to collect them, but there is a forum called Seed Collecting and in the FAQ, there are detailed instructions for collecting seeds of popular varieties. There is also a seed collection section on Wintersown.org with pictures, etc. I have read most of them, and came up with an alternative way of saving tomato seeds - rather than just wiping them on a piece of paper towel, and a way to deal with thorny seeds like coneflowers. I was quite surprised by my four o'clocks which I grew this year for the first time. While looking at some of the flowers (which did not open on cue) I just saw this little black ball just sitting there - it was the seed just waiting to be picked up. I am tryng with Hosta - just picked a few pods yesterday and I'll dry them and see what happens. I enjoy the adventure. Hope this helps.
Northerner.
P.S. What's your weather like? We are having glorious weather - temps. in the high 20's for the last ten days and expected to continue all week. I'll get some more sun-ripened tomatoes!! R.