As a gardener, I’m always looking for ways to expand my flower beds, add new varieties, and fill in bare spots without breaking the budget. Purchasing perennials from nurseries or catalogs can get expensive fast. Luckily, many perennials readily produce seeds that you can collect and replant yourself. Saving perennial seeds is an easy, frugal way to propagate more plants for free!
Collecting and replanting seeds from perennials you already grow allows you to increase your favorites at no cost. It also lets you share special varieties with gardening friends. And it enables you to select for adapted, robust genetics tailored to your growing conditions. Read on to learn when and how to harvest perennial seeds for free plants year after year.
Why Save Perennial Seeds?
Here are some of the top reasons to save seeds from perennials
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It’s inexpensive. Purchased perennials can cost $10, $20, even $30 a pot. Saving your own seeds lets you grow more plants for free.
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It propagates adapted strains. The offspring of your healthiest perennials will be suited to your site.
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It preserves heirlooms. You can perpetuate treasured varieties that aren’t commercially available.
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It’s fun. Collecting and sowing your own seeds is rewarding
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It allows you to share. Trade seeds with other gardeners to expand your plant palette.
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It’s easy. Many perennials naturally produce abundant seeds that are simple to harvest.
Seed saving does involve some time and effort, especially with cleaning and storage But the benefits definitely make it worthwhile! The seeds you collect can supply free perennial plants for years to come
When to Harvest Perennial Seeds
Timing is important when collecting perennial seeds. You need to allow seed heads and pods to fully mature and dry out on the plant before gathering them. Signs seeds are ready include:
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Browning seed heads. The flower structures will turn dry and brown.
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Opening pods. Seed pods will crack, split, or peel back when seeds inside are mature.
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Plump, firm seeds. Mature seeds look full and rounded compared to unripe, flat seeds.
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Dryness. Seeds, pods, and heads feel brittle and dry to the touch, not soft or green.
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Natural dispersal. Some perennials naturally release seeds when ready, dropping them to the ground.
Ideal timing is toward the end of the growing season as plants fade. But pay close attention so you don’t miss the window before seed heads shatter or pods split open. Be patient and let them ripen fully for the best viability.
How to Harvest Seeds from Perennial Flowers
The techniques for gathering seeds will vary somewhat depending on the seed structure. Here are some tips:
Plants with seed heads – Popular perennials like coneflowers, rudbeckia, and sea holly produce concentrated seed heads. For these:
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Snip off the entire dried seed head once the seeds are plump and mature.
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Place in bags or boxes to finish curing for 1-2 weeks.
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Shake or crush to separate the seeds from debris.
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Sieve to remove chaff if needed.
Plants with seed pods – Columbine, lupine, and baptisia grow seeds in pods. For these:
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Pick dried, brown pods or remove entire seed stalks.
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Spread out to dry further indoors for 1-2 weeks.
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Crush or shake pods to extract the seeds within.
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Sift out debris. Peas and beans need extra threshing to remove seed coats.
Plants that self-sow – Poppies, foxgloves, and verbascum drop seeds freely. For these:
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Place trays or tarps beneath ripe plants to catch falling seeds.
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Allow seed heads to fully dry and open on plants.
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Shake or brush to dislodge any remaining seeds once totally dry.
How to Process and Store Perennial Seeds
After collecting seeds, there are a few more steps before storage:
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Spread seeds in single layers on screens or newspaper to finish drying, especially if pods or heads were not completely dry when picked.
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Label your seeds. Include the plant name and variety (if known) plus the year collected.
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When totally dry, transfer to envelopes, packets, or jars for storage. Glass jars work for large amounts.
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Store seeds in cool, dark, and dry conditions. Add silica gel packs to absorb moisture.
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Most perennial seeds will remain viable for 2-3 years if stored properly. Some last even longer.
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Before planting stored seeds, test viability by sprouting some. Discard any that don’t germinate.
With proper harvesting, curing, cleaning, and storage, the seeds you collect from your own perennials will remain full of life and ready to grow new generations of plants.
Top Perennials for Seed Saving
Almost any perennial can be propagated by seed, but some are easier than others. Great choices for beginners include:
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Blanket Flower – Simple daisy-like seed heads release seeds freely.
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Purple Coneflower – Large seed heads dry well and shed seeds readily.
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Liatris – Narrow, spike-like seed heads yield many tiny seeds.
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Lavender – The pods split open when seeds are mature and ready for harvest.
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Coral Bells – Hundreds of tiny seeds fill each bell-shaped pod.
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Columbine – Let pods dry on plants before collecting seeds.
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Lupine – Pick thick seed pods when they turn brown and brittle.
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Purple Prairie Clover – Brush fluffy seed heads over paper to collect.
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Goatsbeard – Abundant, wind-dispersed seeds are easy to gather.
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Bee Balm – Shake dried tubular flower clusters to get seeds.
As you gain experience, you can venture into trickier perennials like monkshood, delphinium, and Pulsatilla. Take notes each season on what techniques work best for the plants you grow. Over time, saving perennial seeds will become second nature.
Saving Special Varieties
One of the rewards of seed saving is preserving beloved named cultivars and plants passed down through generations. Not all perennials grow true from seed – only ones termed “heritage.” But with care, you can maintain special selections:
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Grow only one variety of a species to prevent cross-pollination.
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Remove off-type seedlings as soon as they appear to prevent hybridization.
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Compare seedlings to the original as they mature to identify desirable plants to select.
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Rogue out any seedlings that vary significantly from the parent.
With diligence, creative isolation methods, and careful selection, you can keep an heirloom perennial strain breeding true for many years via collected seeds.
Starting Perennials from Saved Seeds
You can sow perennial seeds indoors or directly outside. Since they can take a while to germinate and reach blooming size, starting indoors gives them a head start on the season. Follow these tips:
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Surface sow seeds in pots or trays, pressing into the soil but not covering. Many need light to germinate.
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Maintain warm soil temperatures, around 70°F. Consider a heat mat.
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Keep soil moist but not soggy while seeds germinate, which can take 2-4 weeks.
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Once sprouted, thin seedlings or transplant into individual pots or the garden.
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Grow on at 60-65°F during the day and 50-55°F at night.
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Harden off and transplant into the garden after the last frost date.
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First flowering may not occur until the 2nd or 3rd season as plants mature. But the wait is worth it!
Expand Your Gardens for Free
Learning to successfully collect and sow seeds from your perennials will empower you to increase your plantings year after year. Before you know it, you’ll have propagated enough homegrown perennials to fill an entire new flower bed! Plus you’ll discover the satisfaction of growing garden gems from seeds you harvested yourself.
So get those seed envelopes or jars ready this fall. A world of free plants awaits. With a little diligent seed saving, you’ll soon have bountiful new generations of treasured perennials spreading through your garden.
Start simply, with flowers
Packet prices can add up in a hurry, even if you have only a small bed to fill. If you shake ripe seeds into an envelope for a few minutes in the early fall, you can grow a free summer garden next year full of mallows, petunias, marigolds, and other favorites. If you save your own seeds, you can use your garden budget to buy big things that aren’t plants, like that teakwood table and chairs you’ve been eyeing.
You can save seeds from all kinds of plants. It’s easiest to grow annuals because they make the most seeds, but you can also grow perennials and biennials. However, some plants aren’t worth gathering seed from because they reproduce much faster by division. I don’t fool with bee balm (Monarda didyma), daylilies (Hemerocallis cvs. ), irises (Iris spp. ), or showy evening primrose (Oenothera speciosa), for example. I could grow them from seeds, but why would I? With just a quick push with a trowel, I have a good start that is ready to plant.
Before a few years ago, I never thought to save seed from bulbs. Now I do it all the time. Small, early spring bulbs like scillas (Scilla siberica) and snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) are particularly rewarding. I didn’t have to wait fifty years to have an ocean of blue scillas under my trees; I did it in five years by gathering seeds, taking care of the tiny plants that came up, and planting them one by one in an area that slowly spread outward.
Birds gave me the idea of growing vines, shrubs, and trees from seed. They “left” the seeds of many of the plants in my front yard that grow in the woods, such as American holly (Ilex opaca), hawthorn (Crataegus spp.), and virgin’s bower (Clematis virginiana). ). I appreciate the birds’ work, but I like my plantings to be more planned out, so I now gather berries and seeds for woody plants on my own.
Flowers are best for beginners, because most of them need no special treatment to encourage seeds to sprout. You can practice on California poppies (Eschscholzia californica), spider flowers (Cleome hasslerana), and cottage garden columbines (Aquilegia vulgaris), which grow new plants on their own.
Not all plants grown from seed look like their parents. Those that do are called “heritage seeds. ” They’re a specialty of some catalogs and, more informally, among backyard gardeners. These plants always “come true” from seeds, just like my friend’s pink poppies or the beautiful “Tarahumara White” sunflowers with ivory seeds that were created by the Tarahumara Indians of the Southwest.
By collecting seed from many plants in your garden, you’re bound to be rewarded with surprises. One of my favorite garden flowers is an oddball-striped, russet marigold that brightens my summer garden. It came from some saved seeds from a pricey named variety, and I slowly got rid of the stray plants until it bred almost perfectly. Now I give out envelopes with the seeds, sure that most of the kids will look a lot like Mom Marigold but also aware that some friends may find their own fun surprises in the batch.
If you want to start plants from seed…
Check out All About Starting Seeds for links to what you need to know about equipment and techniques.
How to Collect & Save Flower Seeds
FAQ
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