Saving Gaillardia Flower Seeds

The annual plant, Gaillardia pulchella--sometimes called Indian blanket, blanket flower, Indian blanket flower or firewheel-- is an herbaceous annual native to the central U.S. It's an extremely easy-to-grow plant in the garden, and just as easy is saving Gaillardia seeds.

'Spellbound' Garden Mums

I've never really been a fan of garden mums. I don't have anything against planting mums in the garden, but I've just never been enthusiastic about these fall color providers. I guess I'm just missing the gene that makes gardeners excited about mums this time of year. Earlier this autumn, an unexpected shipment of plants arrived. Inside were these 'Spellbound' garden mums from Raker up in Litchfield, Michigan. 

Saving California Poppy Seeds

Eschscholzia californica, better known as California poppy, is a perennial and annual poppy native to the United States. This poppy is the official state flower of California, and different than Papaver somniferum, which is better known as Opium poppy. While California poppies are just as easy to grow as opium poppies, saving seeds from California poppies is a little bit different.

How to Save Cockscomb Seeds

If you’re looking for easy-to-grow annuals for your garden, you can’t do better than Celosia cristata. Commonly known as cockscomb or woolflowers the flowers of this tough annual plant resemble the comb of a rooster, hence the name. Saving cockscomb seeds is easy, and I recently learned a new trick for collecting these seeds.