Saving Seeds

A friend that I work with brought me some seeds yesterday from her garden. They are a variety of salvia that she particularly likes and are still blooming and she knew that I would like them too. I thought that was so nice of her and I will definitely save them and try them next spring. We started talking about what seeds we save, and I don't really save many. The only one I really "save" is larkspur--I have a lot of larkspur blooming in the spring and when they die back in the summer I just shake the dry seeds heads back into the garden as I am pulling them out, and they stay there all summer and winter and miraculously they come up again in the spring. I have never had to buy any new seeds. The key is knowing what the tiny seedlings look like, and I do now, so I am careful when I am cultivating in the spring. Sometimes I will save some zinnia seeds, but usually I just buy several packs of seeds and plant them directly into the garden.  The only others I plant from seed are cosmos and alyssum, both directly into the garden. So I am glad to have a new salvia to try. This is a little glimpse of what the plant looks like. My friend said the hummingbirds love them.

And speaking of zinnias, look at this new variety of zinnia I found--isn't it just about perfect? It is called Queen Red Lime Zinnia and I have found them in a couple of catalogues, Burpees, Park Seeds, Harris. I will definitely be trying these next year. They'll look great with my chartreuse "Envy" zinnias. 

Image via burpee.com