Collecting Seeds

On a nice fall day you head outside and take a walk.  As you pass a neighbors yard you see that once beautiful garden laying dormant and wish you had some of their flowers.  Well since it is fall most likely there are seeds that you can gather. 

Besides the colors of the trees fall is a great time of year.  Although your garden seems to be sleeping it isn't.  The last stage before that long winter nap is happening.....the setting of seeds.  Some may have already produced and released their bounty but many are still holding on to their treasure.

Collecting seeds can be fun and educational.  Learning what each plants seed pod or seed looks like.  Discovering that there are many sizes, shapes, and colors to seeds and seed pods. 

 Here is a good example of how different seeds can be.  The 2 black seeds are Morning Glory seeds.  The 2 big white ones are Moon Flower.  Both plants seem very simular in nature as they are both climbing vines and the leaves are virtualy the same.  But the flowers and seed pods are very different.

Here in these two pictures are both seed pods for Morning Glories.  They look very different though.  Both plants are indeed Morning Glories but in this case the seed pod shape and size are clues at to the variety.  The first is from my Heavenly Blue.  Large blue blooms. 

The second is from a vine on a neighbors fence. These blooms were significantly smaller in size as well as different colors.   The pods weren't the only difference either.  To gather these seeds I just simply had to touch the pods and they broke open.  Where my Heavenly Blue pods required a little more work...not much but a little. 

This pod here is from the Moon Flower vine.  Like the seeds a lot bigger than the Morning Glory.  These also take much longer to fully develope.  And are not as plentiful as Morning Glory.  Mostlikely because the amount of pollinating insects at night is far less than during the day...so not as many of the blooms will become seed pods.

 
Here is a close up of the 2 different Morning Glory seeds.  On the left you can see 3 larger and more oval like shapped...these are the Heavenly Blue.  The others are the ones from the fence.  The mini blooms.

This funny looking thing is a seed pod for a Mimosa Tree.  For these you have to make sure that they are brown not green.  Green is still growing. 

And here you can see what the seeds inside look like.  Although these all came from the same seed pod they are all different.  The basic shape is the same but size isn't.  If you were to open a green pod you would see that most are all the same size.  It is during the drying stage that they shrink...some more than others.

The Rose of Sharon seed pods are very different in many ways.  Although for the most part the seeds with in are the same from variety to variety unlinke the Morning Glory ones sometimes the pods will differ.  In size for one but also in time to maturity and ammount of seeds. 

These Rose of Sharon seeds all came from one pod.  But the next pod I opened had 2 seeds.  very different in numbers but both looked very much the same.  The hair you see is called wings.  It's how they get around when the pod is fully open. Carried by the wind.

I went to a few different sites to find out what to look for in terms of seed pods that are ready and that aren't.  What the seeds look like, and how to go about germinating them.  The following sites are really good to use to identify mystery seeds the kids may bring home http://www.theseedsite.co.uk/, and http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/seedid/ were 2 really good ones.  I used them to find out what this crazy looking seed was.  Turns out it is Clematis.

Seeds - Rose of Sharon

So we have 4 differnt Rose of Sharon bushes/shrubs around our yard and given this year I am all into learning how to do all things gardening I colected some seeds....with pictures of course to share with you.  First the Flowers in bloom:

My pure white beauty

A double bloom purple.

Single bloom purple

And a Red eye white.

All equally beautiful in their own right.  So I have been very very very careful while collecting the seed pods to keep each version separate.  So how and when do you collect these pods and then what?  Well here is a visual description of what to look for and what to do.  Some are dark sorry.:

Here you see 3 different stages of the bush.  The top green one is a seed pod soon after the bud has fallen off.  The 2nd Stage.  The next one down is a purple bloom about to emerge.  The 1st Stage.  The last one on the bottom is a seed pod nearing harvest time.  This is the 3rd stage.

Here is another view of a 3rd stage pod.  It is brown in color and appears to be dead.  You can harvest at this time but it will be a little more work for you.  If you wait for Stage 4 most of the work is done.

Although not very clear this one is the 4th and final stage before it plants it's self.  At this point when the pods are open like this you can harvest the seeds.  At this point though you may also find that some pods are empty.  As the seeds are exposed to the elements and may fall out.

This pod here was actually harvested in stage 3.  The seeds are ready but I had to pull the pod appart to get to the seeds.

Here is a close up of a few of the seeds in these pods.  Yes they are hairy. 

Ever wonder how many seeds are in one pod?  I did.  This one had 11 good seeds.  The small specks next to the seeds are actually more seeds but they didn't develop.  No room I guess.



So all of your pods have been deseeded and you have all these seeds everywhere.  What do you do now?  Well you need to store them for future use.  A Tin with a lid, Glass jar, or a Glassine Envelope are best but a homemade paper envelope is just fine too.  Just be sure to lable them with the name of the seed including variety or color.  And at least the Month and year collected.  Store in a cool dry place.