Four O' Clock Flowers

In the post on how to collect Four O' Clock flower seeds I mentioned how I haven't had much luck getting four O' Clock seeds to germinate for me in my garden. I'm happy to report that after a few years of trying, the garden gods decided to smile upon me. Behold, two Four O' Clock flowers from my garden.

How To Save Tomato Seeds

Saving seeds from tomatoes is really easy and kind of fun. The process of how to save tomato seeds for next year is not very complicated, but it does involve a couple of steps. Why would you want to save tomato seeds when you can buy tomato plant starts and tomatoes at the local grocery store and farmers market? Simple, really. When you save seeds from a tomato you have grown, you are helping preserve the genetic diversity of tomatoes, and selecting for characteristics that make a tomato better.  To save tomato seeds all you need is an heirloom tomato, a container, a jar in this case, and a few days.

Cosmos Double "Rose Bon Bon"

Double Cosmos "Rose Bon Bon" is a new variety of cosmos at Renee's Garden introduced for the 2010 growing season. A sample seed pack of this annual was sent out in the media packet for garden writers from Renee's Garden, which is how I acquired these seeds. The pink double flower of this low maintainance garden annual looks a lot like a peony. The blooms, about three inches wide are flouncy. "Rose Bon Bon" was grown by French breeders and they do look quintessentially French, no?

How to Collect Allium Seeds

Alliums are among one of my favorite plants in the garden. You plant the bulbs in the fall and the following spring you're rewarded with showy flowers. These decorative members of the onion family can be added to the garden to provide height and interest. My appreciation of them is compounded by the fact that pollinators, like bees, love to visit their blooms in my garden. Purchasing them as mature flowering bulbs isn't really expensive with many big box garden centers offering them in boxed packages.