Seeds and Seedpods

See the progression of growth from seed, to seedling, to plant, to bloom, to seeded. Please remember that these are sown, grown and gathered from my Canadian garden zone 5b (equivalent of USDA zone 4b)

Saving seeds and seedpods will give you many seeds to plant in your garden next year.  Trading seeds with other gardeners provides you with new plants for the cost of a postage stamp.  Don’t forget to look out for Seedy Saturdays in your area for lots of trading, swapping, and purchasing from local growers.

Although plants need to be deadheaded to ensure continual bloom through the season you can always leave the odd flower to develop into a seedpod.  At the end of the season I leave all the flowers to dry out and produce seedpods.

Be sure all seeds are dry before you package them – especially if you are using the mini plastic zip lock bags  Store seeds in a cool location over the winter.  Some seeds need to be stored in the refridgerator before germination.

These seeds are all in printable seed packets that I share.  The photos are from my garden with a brief bit of info about the seeds.  You can download them for your own seed swapping.

When mailing seeds it is best to use a bubble envelope to protect the seeds as they go through the various postal machines.

~Annuals~

• 4 o’clocks   
•  angel trumpet     
• apple of peru or shoofly     
• calendula or pot marigold  
• cosmos  
• godetia     
• marigolds     
• morning glory     
• nasturtiums     
• petunias 
•  purple hyacinth bean     
• sunflowers     
• venidium     
• zinnias

~Biennials~

• hollyhocks     
• lunaria or money plant

~Tender Perennials~  in my garden zone

•  canna     
• peruvian daffodils     
• nine bark 
• elephant ears

~Perennials~

• columbine     
• coreopsis
• daisies     
• delphiniums     
• dianthus 
• feverfew
• ligularia   
• liatris     
• lupins     
• rudbekia

~other information~  

• plant markers
• plant tables
• Seed sorting
• think outside the pot

Why not try Nature’s way of sowing seeds, the original winter sowing option.

Sprinkle a few seeds around your main plant in the fall, lightly cover, and let them germinate over winter.  I bet you will be surprised when you see some new plants growing in the spring.   I’ve always called these volunteer plants, as they have volunteered to grow where the seeds drop.

Try this hint before you work in the garden. Push your fingers into a bar of soap so that the soap gets under your nails. The dirt won’t get stuck under your nails and clean up is so much easier.