Free flowers!!! Deadheads, Free flowers and...Peace Man

Well not really.  But kind of! 

It's that time of year again!

I'm about to share one of my favorite things with you, that only happens in fall! 

Fall is actually my favorite season in the entire year by far.  The leaves are absolutely stunning, the weather is gorgeous, it is bonfire season, let's get real there, are so many things to love about fall there's too many to list!

Seed saving!  You may already know about saving seeds. But if you do not, prepare to have your mind blown. 

Pink Zinnias in our garden

If there is a plant or flower that you want, most likely it has a seed. If you can get the seed, you can grow your own new plants (or even more of those plants, than you already have!)  And voila! Free flowers!  That to me is amazing in itself! (Free things, and they're flowers, C'mon now!!!!)  

I'm going to show you how to deadhead a zinnia, and save the seeds for next year.

Now, where I live, a zinnia is an annual flower.  Sadly, if you do not save the seeds, you will have to buy more seeds if you'd like to have them again the following year.  I don't know about you, but I like free things.  And prefer not to spend money on things I can easily get for free.

Red Zinnia in our garden

These beautiful zinnia seeds we're actually given to me by our 93 year old neighbor.  He is the sweetest and best neighbor ever!  

To get the zinnia seeds, you have to wait until they are done blooming, usually toward the end of summer, and they look dried up and dead.  They will be dry and crunchy or brittle. Once they reach the stage, they are then, ready for harvesting. Be careful though, if you harvest them too soon, they will not germinate to give you more flowers next year. Sadly, I have learned the hard way, that patience, is definitely of the essence, when harvesting seeds. What I do is, I pull off all of the dead petals from the flower. Then I pluck the cone-shaped head that is left from the stem. You can also use pruning shears or some kind of knife to cut off the heads, if you prefer. 

Zinnia that is done blooming

Petals removed and head of flower plucked off of stem

 I set them in a dry location, so that they can dry out. I normally leave them for a few weeks (1-4 weeks should do it). You want to make sure that there is no moisture left before storage, this is crucial.  If there is any moisture left before you put the seeds into storage it will cause mold.  Which will also cause failure in your seed and it will not grow.   Once you are certain they are good and dry, the seeds should come off very easily  (they may even fall off while just sitting there drying out!) 

Zinnia seeds drying out in a cardboard flat

You can store them and label them (name and date is always helpful) whatever way you would like. I prefer to keep them in my cardboard flat and just stack however many flats I have of seeds that I collect.  I store them until the next spring if that's what they require. Or I plant them in the fall, depending on the type of flower, and what its requirements are.  

Some of the seeds I have collected for planting

Zinnia Seeds for planting next year

So this week wasn't "monarch" specific, but butterflies absolutely love zinnias!   Without flowers you won't have anything for the butterflies to eat.  So having flowers is very important for your monarchs and other butterflies!  (I have even seen several hummingbirds and other pollinators feeding from our zinnias too)   

Some of our Zinnias!

#mistysmonarchsandmore

#monarchwaystation25019

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