Well, all I can do is tell you my story: A friend gave me some seedlings she started inside in April. I am in zone 4, but it has been a hot summer for us with 28 days above 90 degrees so far. Anyway, I read that Jobe's Tears might not perform in our short season, so I put them in the hottest part of the garden. To my surprise, they began doing their thing about 3 weeks ago! I never fertilized, they are in very free draining soil and moderate natural fertility, and full sun. pH neutral to 7.2. Really, they grow like weeds for me! And really, I'm more surprised than you are.

Thank you for responding Rick! I've got them where they'll get as much sun as they can possibly get, but I'm afraid it might not be enough. We're having a hot summer as well so they should like that. I don't know if being in large pots is part of the problem, but I have no choice as the soil here is tiers of fill dirt.

On the topic of Job's Tears: The plants I had a few years ago produced beautiful light to medium gray seeds, some with a slight stripe. I bought a few plants this year, which produced tan seeds which quickly dried up. Wanting to make jewelry out of the gray seeds, I then planted some seeds I had saved from before, along with some seeds I purchased, and those plants are just beginning to seed. Does anyone know what caused the different colored seeds? Are there different species of Job's Tears?

I've always had Job's Tears set seed, though whether or not they ripened was another question. Mine have just started to flower, which is pretty much around the same time as last year. We're expecting about a week of 28*C or so weather, and have already had about four days of it.

The ones I have in a pot aren't as big as the ones I have in the ground. I have heard that they are perennials in warmer climates, so I'm thinking of cutting the ones in the pot down and storing them 'dormant' like brugs in the garage. We'll see what happens. I'm going to store the ones in the ground like canna rhizomes to see.

When the seeds are ready and viable, they should be uniformly gray. White/tan seeds won't grow (at least from my experience). Gray with a stripe should grow. Some are a lighter shade of gray, but they are all gray form what I know. I've been using a batch of seed given to me five years ago to start indoors for the garden every year and this year, I still got 100% germination, so they do last a long time. I use them to make rosaries. Patingalloway, if you're in Canada, I can send you some seed for postage if you need some for your jewelery.