That is pretty normal. Bumblebees usually chew holes at the base of the flower which prevents seed formation - watch and you will see. In a decade or so of growing B&B I've seen less than a dozen ripe seeds. Another person at this site, Penny, has successfully collected and propagated seeds, so it can be done.

My B&B makes seeds, but only when it first flowers in the spring and again late in the fall. It is hard to get the seeds because they fall out very easy so you have to check them every day. My B&B get so many flowers that the bees don't get them all. Everyone said that the plants would not come true from seeds, but I planted about 10 seeds that I collected last year, 8 of them germinated and they all turned into regular B&B plants. I was wishing to get an interesting cross, so that might be why they all came true. LOL

Yes, they do seed but they fall out so quickly its had recover the seeds . I had a few seeds last year that I had tried to germinate but failed . So I will most likely just replace what doesnt live thru the winter and come back in the spring.

I can never collect seed, but mine have seeded out and I now have small seedlings growing around the original base plant. One, only 10 inches tall has a bloom on it already!

Are you sure these are seedlings and not one of many stolons (runners) that have popped up? You can find the runner by gently digging in between the sprout and the main plant.

My Black & Blue is planted in a pot and it is sitting on the brick patio. So if the seeds fell, I would not be able to find them. I am going to plant it in the ground next year. Since I found seeds in greggii, I thought I could do the same on the Black & Blue but so far no luck. When I look inside where the flower fell off, there are white things that shape like seeds but they are not black or brown and they are soft. Maybe I am not looking for them at the right time. I will keep looking as long as there are flowers....

kal2002, you may have seeds that haven't ripened yet. I had quite a few seeds last year on my B&Bs but many of them didn't get ripe before the plant froze. I had the same experience as nuthatch with my seedlings - all of them came true. My germination percentage was lower, though. That might have been because I was trying to harvest seeds before the plant froze and some of them weren't quite ripe.

Becky
ramazz

Hi Becky, if that is the case, will the flower stalks still be around in freezing temperatures for seed collecting? I looked at my Hot Lips this morning and it is doing the same thing. No seeds, just some white parts that look like they may be seeds some day. I did get some seeds from Wild Watermelon and a no name greggii last weekend. So I guess some plants produce seeds more readily than others.

Of the seeds Ive collected most of them are brown or dark brown , but a few were a lighter color but I think some of those are darkening too.

Seeds that have started to ripen (taking on a tan to brown color) are likely to survive a freeze. Those that are still white and no shrunken (dehydrating) will probably turn to mush.

See the link-free web page on seeds for more info. I've also uploaded a link-free web page on Salvia flower structures

http://www.eclectasy.com/gallery_of_salvias/flower3.htm

Here is a link that might be useful: Working with seeds

Rich-- Thanks for posting the seed info. I would like to find some kind of bag containers for my seeds collected. I made a homemade container that resembles a coin holder out of printing paper, seems to work ok.

Good news! I found ONE seed on my Black and Blue this morning. Looks like I may have another 2 if all goes well.