This time of year I collect seeds.
The whole plant is now locked away in the tiniest of seeds.
Sometimes they will germinate in Autumn rains and survive the winter, but most often the seed will just wait it out until the spring comes and conditions are right to explode into life.
Seeds are so tiny in comparison to the plant they may become. All that complex information for life is locked away safely in the dry seed and it’s survival is so improbable that it makes collecting the autumn seeds seem like the most important thing I can do . I know seed catalogs are full of technicolor promise for the spring, but these are seeds that I know will grow again. I collect nasturtiums, sweet William, dames violet, wall flowers and lettuce. Some things will just seed without needing to be collected like roucoula , columbine and marigolds. Some will need the lure of the seed catalogue like chard and pumpkin and fennel, but all will be an astounding testimony to what can grow out from the locked away life!
Cathy's real country garden 
It’s wonderful to think we are both collecting seeds right now. I cleaned and packaged lychnis and hollyhock seeds this past weekend. I still collect aquilegia seeds so I can scatter them all around the garden. 🌱
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What a lovely thought, both doing the same autumn thing!🍃🍃
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beautiful door! Lovely metaphor. My hollyhocks scatter their own seeds – one of my earliest blog posts 10 years ago was about them.
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My hollyhocks have been conspicuously absent this year. How are yours?
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Mine have been fine, but all the same shade of pink rather than the multicoloured blooms that used to pop up before the garden was “improved”.
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Good post, and pictures. I collect and save seed from nearly all the annual flowers I grow on the plot, as well as letting them self-seed as well. My favourite seed catalogue is the Chiltern Seeds one which is unusual in that it has few pictures. xx
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That is probably a good thing you must decide based on suitability not seductive pictures! Xx
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I find the seeds I gather from my own garden more successful than the bought ones. I have not collected as many this year as all the good places are getting filled. Amelia
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