By Andee Zeigler, November 21, 2021
Did you know that you don’t have to buy seeds every year!? 
As we head into fall I start collecting blooms to dry for seed harvesting. You don’t need a anything fancy to extract or save seeds, just a little time and some envelopes to store them in.
I harvested thousands of seeds this year with the hopes of an abundance of viable spring seedlings to share. One of my most favorite seeds (shown in the header) are from the pincushion flower, scabiosa. I am also a big fan of these sweet little seeds from Love in a Puff….nevermind those dirty gardener hands!
A couple of things to note, if you are harvesting seeds from a specific colored flower, say a queen lime zinnia, if the flower has been pollinated it won’t be true to that color. It will be a lovely zinnia but the cross pollination changes the seed. Store your seeds in a cool, dark, dry space, free of pests. Basements are great for this. I keep my seeds in labeled envelopes and organize them by future planting location and in chronological order of when they need to be started.
Below I have listed a number of great resources to learn more about seed saving. It’s a cost effective way to have lovely flowers (and many veggies) without spending money on seeds each year. There are an abundance of viable seeds in most flowers, the opportunity to harvest and share is endless.
-Floret offers an abundance of information both in their blogs and mini courses, highly recommend. She also has some quick tutorials on her IG stories.
-On IG,@blommaflowerfarm has some awesome seed saving tutorials
-The website Seed Savers has tons of information and you can also order the book Seed to Seed there.
Grow flowers and love where you live!
Andee Zeigler
Principal Broker | OR
She/Her
I have called Portland home for over 20 years and can’t imagine raising my babies anywhere else. I have been a REALTOR® for over a decade and still wake up every day delighted that I truly love what I do...
Read More
- T: 503-901-6864
- andee@livingroomre.com
