Saving Seeds from the Garden: Five Simple Steps!

Stefanie R.
1 day ago
6 min read

How to collect annual and perennial flower and grass seed to sow next season

Saving seeds is a fun and economical way to propagate some of your favorite, or hard-to-find plants. It’s a great way to share with family and friends and grow more of what you love!

Here, we’ll cover beginner-friendly steps to save seeds from your garden for next season’s planting. We’ll discuss identifying, harvesting, storing, and eventually planting said seeds. We’ll specifically discuss saving open-pollinated and straight species flower and grass seeds. Saving vegetable seeds can be a little more complicated, and there are fantastic resources available if you're interested in giving fruit and veggie seed saving a try (we’ll share some of these resources with you for deep diving).

Gather your supplies: you’ll need snips, envelopes to store seeds, and a marker or pen to label your seed packets.

Step one: Identify

Which seeds should you harvest and save? It is important to note that while saving annual and perennial flower and grass seed isn’t the most complicated process, it can be a little challenging to determine which of your plants are worth saving seed from and will grow “true to seed”.

“True to seed” simply means that a plant grown from seed will be identical in appearance to its parent plant. Some plants grown in the nursery are hybrids or cultivars grown from two different parent plants to inherit specific traits. Those traits could be based on appearance, height, flower color, or disease resistance, to name a few examples. But the thing about collecting seed from these cultivars or nativars (native plants cultivated or hybridized to have specific traits) is that seed collected from these plants may not grow offspring that are true to seed, matching their parents.

So, how do you know which plants to collect seeds from? A great place to start is by collecting seed from plants that are open-pollinated. Open-pollinated plants are species that are pollinated by insects, birds, wind, or are self-pollinating and will produce viable seed that will grow “true”. Sowing seeds that were cross-pollinated is a powerful means of propagation. Sexual reproduction ensures genetic diversity and increased resilience to changing environments, which is ever so important for the survival and future success of our gardens and pollinators.

An example of open-pollinated plants that will generally grow true to seed are straight species*. A straight species is a plant in its wild, naturally occurring form and has undergone no human cultivation. You probably have at least a few straight species already growing in your garden! For example, you might have a fantastic stand of Purple Coneflower Echinacea purpurea that you want to try growing from seed. Straight species Echinacea purpurea will grow true to seed and is worth collecting seed from. One of the many beautiful echinacea hybrids that we carry at Painter’s Greenhouse is the Cheyenne Spirit coneflower, which is a hybrid and produces non-viable seed that will not grow into more Cheyenne Spirit coneflowers. But, when your straight species Purple Coneflowers begin to put out seed heads, they would be an excellent variety to save seed from and to propagate next growing season.

*(If you are looking at the plant name on a sign or label a quick way to tell if something is a cultivar or hybrid is if the common or scientific name is followed by an additional name in quotes: i.e. Echinacea purpurea 'Prairie Splendor.' If it simply says Echinacea purpurea or Purple Coneflower it is likely the straight species.)

This is an excellent reason to label or keep a garden journal of plants you’ve purchased, planted, or started from seed. Not only is it a great way to keep track of what you’ve planted, but it can serve as a handy reference point when determining which varieties to collect and save seed from.

When I’m out in my home garden, I usually remember what I’ve planted, but I’m not always sure if the plants will produce viable seeds. When this happens, I’ll run a quick internet search--which is how I figured out that the Mexican Sunflowers Tithonia rotundifolia I planted will grow true from seed if I harvest them. This was the first year I tried growing tithonia, and the butterflies and hummingbirds were having daily duels over who got to feed off of the cheery orange blooms. I definitely want to try and propagate my patch next year, so I’ll be harvesting and storing seed for next season’s planting.

A few Painter’s Greenhouse Favorites to collect seed from: Native Asters, Nodding Onion, Obedient Plant, Rattlesnake Master, Goldenrod, non-hybrid Joe Pye Weed, Purple Coneflower, Northern Sea Oats (River Oats), Native Bee Balm, and Milkweed, to name a few!

Step 2: Harvest

Once you’ve identified seeds you’d like to collect, it’s time to harvest them. It’s best to harvest seeds from pods or flower heads that have thoroughly dried on the plant. Some seeds are different, but most will be enclosed in pods and flower heads on the plant. You want to collect them once they're thoroughly dried out, but before they have dropped from their stalks. I like to take weekly walks around my garden to see what’s starting to produce seedheads and identify which plants are in the early stages of going to seed, so I can make a note to check back in a few days.

To harvest, I like to snip pods, grass tips, or flower heads from their parent plant and crumble them into my palm. You can also use a clean, dry dish or any other surface of your choice. I’ll remove the chaff (non-seed bits that housed or helped form the seed, which can be petals or other organic material) and separate the seeds. If the seeds are thoroughly dried, I’ll store them in a paper envelope labeled with the plant species name and the date collected. You could be super fancy and also include details about the location the seeds were harvested, as well as the full common and Latin name. You can look up how long the seeds are viable and include that information, along with any other notes your future self may want to remember.

Steps 3 and 4: Dry and Store

You’ll want to store your seeds in a cool, dry place once they're lovingly tucked away into their storage envelopes. This can be stored in a plastic container, a mason jar, or another suitable vessel tucked away in your fridge or a dark cabinet. Keeping seeds in your garage over the winter can also work, but you want to keep them out of extreme temperature fluctuations and avoid exposure to moisture and light. Seeds need all of those things to germinate, and you don’t want them to germinate prematurely if you're saving them for next spring or fall.

Tithonia seeds! The broken-open seed pod is at the top of my hand, and the seeds themselves are near the bottom of my palm.

Bonus Step: Swap

You’ve saved your seeds! You’ve stored them! What’s next?

You could swap them--seed swaps are a great way to share seeds with family, friends, and neighbors. Seek out and attend a seed-sharing event in the area or share your bounty with your community by hosting a seed swap of your own!

Step 5: Plant your Seeds

First, research your seeds' specific needs and preferred method of breaking dormancy, and determine the best time of year to plant them. Some seeds require cold stratification to break dormancy and germinate. Some are best planted in warmer soil temps.

Once you are ready, you can start your seeds in plug trays indoors in early spring. Or you can create a nursery bed in a corner of your yard and try direct seeding or planting your grown-out plugs in this area. This is a great way to keep a close eye on their growth and development and transplant winners out into your main garden. Or maybe you have limited time and space and prefer to just directly sow them into your existing beds. There is no wrong way to try seed sowing!

You could even sow directly this fall and some seeds even prefer this. We just posted a blog about cool-stratifying seeds outdoors for spring blooms, if you'd like to check it out:

Harvesting and planting seeds grown in your garden can be an enriching experience, and like most gardening endeavors, it can be a fun experiment. You may become the neighborhood zinnia master and share your prize seeds with neighbors. Or you may want to double your milkweed patch and feed all the monarchs! Now is the time to keep an eye out for those bursting, fluffy milkweed pods and collect and dry seed for future growing seasons. Whatever your goals may be, seed saving is a great way to connect with nature, your community, and experiment in your growing space.