Sowing Zinnia Seeds

Last weekend the tear shaped saved Zinnia seeds were planted in two of our gardens.  It was time to get them in the ground! About 6 days later 2 small sprouts popped up. Today, there are more green sprouts making appearances.  Planting the seeds saved from the last year's crop of brightly colored Zinnia flowers is a tradition here.  In a few weeks time the sprouts will get stronger, have more leaves and buds will appear. Then, so much color! 

Looking forward to seeing this year's crop of colorful flowers that attract the Monarch Butterflies and the Hummingbirds. 

Happy Gardening!

   

Planting Saved Zinnia Seeds

Zinnia seeds

It's time!  You may be thinking "time for what?"  Time to plant the Zinnia seeds that were saved from last year's crop.  That was accomplished today.  It was a perfect day to plant them with our warm weather today and it will continue.

We are dreaming about enjoying a colorful abundant crop- like we do every year.

Colorful Zinnias from a previous crop.

 

In a few days we will be looking for the small green seedlings to pop up.

Happy gardening!

 

Saving Marigold Seeds

Big Orange Marigolds

O.K., now that we have saved the Zinnia seeds it was time to also harvest the Marigold seeds!  In the Spring we purchased Marigold plants that would have BIG yellow and orange blossoms.  We had visions of beautiful brightly colored blossoms in our gardens.  Well, all did not work out exactly as we had wished for.  Our drought brought a reduction in outdoor watering in my town.  Still our flowers managed to do o.k.  The new mulch helped a lot! Unfortunately, the rabbits enjoyed dining on the yellow Marigolds! The yellow flowers and the green plants! The orange colored flowers- they did not bother with.  It sure was strange to see large plants with bright orange flowers next to very small green plants.  Transplanting 2 of the small plants into pots was a good solution to seeing yellow blossoms this summer!  They are doing very well.  Those plants were definitely survivors, so I decided to save some of their seeds.  

Once again, the process of saving Marigold seeds is easy:

The colorful flowers are snipped from the stems and placed in a cut down Kleenex box to dry out.  After they are dry, the dried seeds will be separated from the stems.  The Marigold seed is slender and black.  It is attached to the dried out brown petal.

Saved Marigold Seeds
(File Photo)

The dried seeds will be placed in business sized white envelopes that are labeled/ sealed.  I saved seeds from both types of plants- the plants with orange flowers and the plants with yellow flowers, so they were saved in separate containers. 

**Note:  In your garden as the flowers dry out on a green plant, you can also save these dried flowers. Just pull the dried petals off and save the seeds.  This skips the process of drying out the blossoms yourself!  

Happy Gardening!
Enjoy!              

Saving Zinnia Seeds

This summer and now in autumn we've been enjoying the colorful, abundant Zinnia blossoms in our gardens.  Shades of pink, yellow, orange and white blossoms were admired day after day.  Now that October is here it is only a matter of time when a frost will end the Zinnia season!  It has not happened yet, but that is in the near future.

For that reason I've been snipping off the colorful blossoms to save.  Then, they are dried.  Cut down tissue boxes make great storage boxes for the blossoms to dry out.

Looking at the first box of my collected colorful blossoms, I noticed that there were no white ones.  Another trip to the garden and a few more blossoms were snipped- this time only white ones.

The flowers are now dried, so next week the seeds will be harvested from the dried blossoms.   To do this:  Pull the dried petals off the flower and "tear drop" shaped seeds will be found.  These are the seeds to plant for next year.  I will store them in a labelled sealed envelope.  Next spring they will be planted in our gardens. 

This has become a tradition with me- saving the Zinnia seeds.  After saving and then planting the saved seeds for about 5 years, the flower blossoms will become smaller.  That is my clue to purchase new seed packets to plant the next year.  Then, the saving and replanting starts again.

Enjoy!
Happy Gardening!

           

Just Need to Wait

A Dahlia is Blossoming!!!

The Dahlia bulbs in our front garden were planted this spring.  We planted bulbs saved from last year & also bulbs purchased this spring.  The saved bulbs would have coral colored flowers & the newer bulbs- pink flowers.  The coral Dahlia have added color to our garden for the past month. 

How exciting to see the green sprouts appear & leaves form from the pink Dahlia bulbs.  Then, there was the "watch the plants become taller" time period.  One day buds appeared on the tall stalks.  When would they blossom???  That was the question.

Today, August 28th, a beautiful flower opened! The anticipation is over!  Yes!  There are more buds to follow.

We will Enjoy!

     

Colors of August

Our Colorful Greeting in Our Front Yard

Those little Zinnia seeds that we planted from saved seeds this Spring have added brilliant colors to our yard this summer.  It's August & those colorful flowers along with the flowering Vinca keep blossoming!

Marigolds, Zinnias & Grasses

The bright Marigolds add a colorful border to the Zinnias in our side perennial garden.

It's definitely August!

Enjoy!

Sewing or Sowing?

Zinnia seeds from previous year - still attached to dried flower petals.

It really wasn't a question!  I knew the answer!  My Janome & the fabric for the Envelope Pillows would need to wait.  Sunday's cold temps and the previous days of much needed rain was not ideal for planting the Zinnia and Coreopsis seeds.  Yesterday, the sun was shining, so I was ready to go.  Go outside and plant flower seeds, that is!

During the summer months it's always so relaxing to glance outdoors or to walk past and view vibrant colored flowers in our gardens.  Last year the Painted Lady Butterflies visited the colorful Zinnias.  These butterflies do look similar to a Monarch Butterfly, but after examining closely, a difference can be noticed.  (Click on FuN Facts above.)

Painted Lady Butterfly on Orange Zinnia.  (File Photo)

Last fall many Zinnia seeds (from small, medium and large plants in height) were saved and dried from the beautiful flowers.  The seeds would be planted this Spring.  With our cold weather and then rainfall this past week, the first opportunity was yesterday.  After gently crushing the dried petals, the seeds were ready to be planted.

Sure, the seeds may be purchased in packets, but there is something very satisfying about drying, saving and then planting seeds from a crop of gorgeous flowers that you've enjoyed during the previous summer.  Much like cooking healthy meals for your family to enjoy.

The seeds are in the ground and now will be watered daily.  Depending on our weather, little sprouts will be coming up...soon!

I cannot wait!
The flowers are to Enjoy!