Collecting seeds from flowers grown in your garden can be an extremely rewarding experience. Not only is it a great way to get free seeds for planting next year, but it allows you to grow flowers uniquely adapted to your growing conditions. However, a common question from many gardeners is whether you can harvest seeds from cut flowers bought at the store or cut from your own garden.
Can You Get Seeds From Store Bought Cut Flowers?
In most cases, the answer is no. Cut flowers purchased at grocery stores, farmer’s markets, or florists are usually harvested by cutting the stem before the flower has had a chance to be pollinated and set seed.
Without pollination seeds will not form inside the flower. Even if seeds have started to develop, severing the stem removes the flower’s connection to nutrients and water, halting further seed production.
So while cut flowers may last a week or two in the vase they are essentially reproductive dead-ends unable to mature and produce viable seeds.
There are a few rare exceptions. Occasionally an extra mature bloom that has already formed seeds may get mixed into a bouquet. But in general, commercially grown flowers are cut young, long before they get to that seed-producing stage.
So while that bouquet of daisies or tulips may brighten up your kitchen, don’t expect to harvest any seeds from them. The stems were snipped too early in their lifecycle.
What About Cutting Flowers From Your Own Garden?
When it comes to cut flowers harvested from your own backyard, the answer is still generally no. Just like commercially grown blooms, most gardeners cut stems while flowers are in their prime, well before seeds would start developing.
However, if you accidentally leave a blossom on the plant until it fades and withers, you may get lucky and find some seeds if you check back.
But counting on this is an unreliable way to collect seeds. For the highest success and seed yields, it’s best to let flowers fully mature and dry on the plant.
When Can You Begin Harvesting Flower Seeds?
To maximize viable seed collection, wait until blooms are completely spent before gathering seeds. This gives time for pollination, fertilization, seed development, and maturation.
Signs seeds are ready for harvest:
- Flower petals have wilted, faded, or dropped off
- Seed heads, pods, or capsules appear dried and brown
- Seeds easily release from pods when gently shaken or squeezed
The exact harvest window varies by flower type but generally occurs anywhere from mid-summer through fall.
Zinnia and marigold seeds mature in late summer into fall while poppies and larkspur ripen earlier. Get to know your flowers’ ideal timelines.
Flower Seed Harvesting Basics
With a little planning, harvesting flower seeds can become a rewarding late-season activity for any gardener. Follow these tips for success:
- Identify flowers with seeds you want to collect. Focus on non-hybrid, open-pollinated varieties for true-to-type propagation.
- Time it right and let seeds fully mature on the plant before gathering.
- Collect seed pods, heads, or capsules once dried and brown.
- Further dry seeds in a single layer on screens or paper plates.
- Remove chaff and debris. Pick out seeds by hand or sieve.
- Store seeds in envelopes or jars in a cool, dry location until planting time.
Enjoy All the Benefits of DIY Seed Saving
With a bit of patience, care, and proper timing, harvesting flower seeds can become an enjoyable hobby that keeps giving. Homegrown seeds offer free plants ideally suited to your unique growing conditions. And there’s great satisfaction in growing beautiful blooms from your own hand-collected seeds.
So while those cut flower stems won’t work for seed saving, let some blossoms mature in the garden. Then reap the rewards by gathering fresh seed for future plantings.
When you should collect your own flower seeds
Get flower seeds about two to three weeks after the flower has stopped blooming and the seed head is fully ripe. You can pick seed heads now if they are dry and crumbly if you have been cutting off the ends of flowers all season.
So, for early Spring bloomers this would be late May and into June. Most other flowers will be August-October. But the most important thing is to note when the flowers stop blooming and then check on them a few weeks later.
Also, it’s best to wait until the seed head is dry or fluffy, depending on the flower, before you pick them. This way you know that the seed has had enough time to mature and become viable. If you collect seeds before they are fully grown and ready to grow, it’s likely that not many of them will germinate when you try to grow them.
How to save flower seeds – general instruction
After a flower blooms, it will begin seed production. Different species have different lengths of time it takes for a flower to fully develop a seed, but in general, it takes at least two weeks. There are many different genus of plants, and each species will go about producing seed differently.
So, the first step is research about the plant you want to grow or collect seed. Ensure you are able to identify it during/after blooming. And if you can find out anything about the seeds, do so! After that, all you have to do is wait and check to see if the seed heads dry out and turn brown.
When this happens, I usually just cut them off with scissors or pruning shears and put them in a brown paper bag. Then I will store the bag in a cool dry place for about a week.
It’s important to use the brown paper bag because it will let the seed “breathe,” which means that the water will leave. You shouldn’t store seed that is too wet for more than a year or over the winter. It could rot and no longer be useful.
Please note that some species need to be refrigerated immediately until used. So, the research aspect is important. Some examples of species that should be refrigerated until winter-sowing include Joe-Pye Weed, Liatris, Ironweed.
When I’m drying seeds, I use a dehumidifier to keep the humidity level in my basement at about 45%. My basement is quite large at about 1600 square feet (~150 m^2). I purchased this humidifier to keep it below 60%, and it has done exceptionally well.
Aside from being emptied often (during the summer), the only maintenance it has needed is the filter being cleaned every two weeks. But it keeps our basement from becoming musty / too humid. It can give you a great environment for drying seeds, as well as preventing mold.
Harvesting & Saving Seeds || How To Save Seeds || Seed Hacks || Cut Flower Garden
FAQ
What flowers can you collect seeds from in a vase?
Can you save seeds from cut zinnias?
Can you propagate flowers from cut flowers?
Can you harvest seed from cut flowers?
Many people ask if they can harvest seed from cut flowers, such as with cut sunflowers. This is not likely unless your cut flowers were cut at a later stage from the garden. Most cut flowers harvested for the vase are cut at a time before they start dropping any pollen, and before they are pollinated.
Can you collect seeds from flowers?
You can collect seeds from many flowers in your garden borders. Annuals produce plentiful quantities of seed, but you could also collect it from biennials and perennials. One important thing to bear in mind if you’re going to start, however, is that plants don’t always ‘come true’ from seed – that is, look like the parent plant.
Do cut flowers have seeds?
Most cut flowers harvested for the vase are cut at a time before they start dropping any pollen, and before they are pollinated. Therefore in cut flowers, seeds do not have an opportunity to develop once the flower stem is separated from the root system.
Are cut flowers good for seed-saving?
This means that cut flowers (those used in bouquets) aren’t ideal for seed-saving. That’s not to say you shouldn’t enjoy some cut flowers in your home too! Just keep in mind that when a flower is harvested young or in peak bloom, it likely hasn’t been pollinated yet – and thus lacks viable seeds.
Should you collect seeds from your garden?
Harvesting seeds from your garden can be a wonderful and rewarding experience. Collecting your own seeds allows you to try your hand at growing new hybrids and flowering plants that have been adapted to your garden. The savings is a bonus, as the expense of buying new seeds every year can add up pretty quickly.
When should you collect seeds from flowers?
It’s the flowers that are the most vigorous and healthy that you should target. What’s the right time for collecting seeds from flowers? You can collect ripe seeds from flowers during the growing season, but you’ll be busiest doing so in late summer and fall in the case of most annuals.