Tag You're It

By Dawn Denton | September 22, 2011

Weather changes mean plant changes. With cooler temps and shorter days, the plants are wrapping up their blooming season. Most annuals will be making seed pods and dropping them in random places thanks to the wind, birds, and critters.

This week I am going to encourage you to plan ahead which will help you save some money. Sometimes that is a challenge when we are busy, so consider this your little reminder.

Remember when you went to the store last spring and purchased packets of seeds or trays of annuals?

Well, with a little time and effort you can eliminate that step for next year.

Now is the time to be tagging the flower pods that you want to collect seeds from.

Marigolds

Periwinkle

I am busy doing this with my zinnias right now.

I place a colored string around the stem of the zinnia that has seeds I would like to collect. (The same color string as the bloom makes labeling easy.)

Once the flower sets its seeds: clip the seed pod; place it in a small snack size zip lock bag with the string; label the bag; and put it in a air tight container in the freezer until you are ready to plant next spring.

All that is required is your time. Considering that a bag of zinnia seeds can cost up to $5.00 and a tray of annuals can be $12.00 or more, I think it is worth it!

Here is a little side note…if you like where you planted the annuals this year, just let them drop the seeds where they are. Next spring you will have dozens of volunteers show up!