Where are my herb seeds located on the plant?

Could someone tell me where the seeds usually are on herbs? I have just about every herb that will grow in zone 3, and this is my first attempt at trying to collect any seeds. I know some of them spread by their roots (like my french tarragon), but what about these: oregano, lemon thyme, thyme, and sage? Also my mint plants: peppermint, catnip, apple mint, and lemon balm?

Hi AuntyB
Sage is pretty easy. Run your hand up the dried flower stalk pulling all the dried up flowers off. I collect all this stuff in a container then pour it onto a cookie sheet. Keep the cookie sheet tilted and the round sage seeds roll to the bottom of the pan. If you keep crunching up the debris with your hands and tossing it around more and more seeds roll down. Then you can gather them up real easy and toss all the chaff.

Mints will not come true since they cross pollinate so readily. You can collect seeds from them and grow them if you don't care about the varieties. Seeds are much smaller than sage but they're round and they'll roll if you use the cookie sheet method again. You might have to gently blow some up the debris out. Catnip will come true... it's a nepeta ...not really a mint. You should gather those seeds before you end up with a catnip garden - everywhere! They re-seed like crazy! Just cut the stalks and shake into a bag. The seeds fall right out. I just collected some the other day. I brought them in (still in the bag)... turned my back... and the darn cat had them spread all over the floor.

Lemon balm has lots of seeds too. I think they'll fall into a bag with a few shakes.

Thyme is another one that won't come true from hybrid varieties. I'd forget the thyme. It's seeds are sooooo teenie weenie tiny! It's hardly worth the effort. You may want to offer just the dried flower stalks if anyone wanted some for trade. French thyme (the cooking variety) is pretty easy to start from seed. Sowing them with chaff shouldn't be any problem.

I'm not sure on the oregano. Try shaking them...if nothing try crunching them up. It's the same family as catnip so seeds are probably similar.

When I'm not sure how to collect a certain seed...I disect the flower at different stages of growth. If you take them apart before the seed is ripe you can see where the seeds will form or where the unripe seeds are. Because the flower is still green it holds it's shape and doen't fall apart. Usually the unripe seeds are white or a light brown. If you can see them at this stage it's a lot easier to tell where and what they'll look like when they're ready. When they're ready usually the hole plant is brown and you can't tell what's a seed and what's not if you don't know what your looking for.

Hope I helped you AuntyB. You better go get those catnip seeds!

Wow! You're one smart cookie!!! Do you work with plants for a living or have you had schooling in this stuff or what??? What a fountain of knowledge you are! I really appreciate your help! Now here's another one for ya....
What the heck is FRENCH THYME??? I have lemon thyme, and I have another thyme that I was told (when I got it) that it was just the 'regular' thyme for spices. Does that mean it's a french thyme? And if not, how do I find out what kind of thyme it is??? I thought there were only the two kinds of thyme....the 'regular' and the lemon! Guess I'm not as plant-smart as I thought I was!
I've got TONS of flowering stems all over my Oregano too...guess I'm gonna hafta go pick those tomorrow and see if the seeds are still in them! I'm just now beginning to open my eyes to all the possiblities for collecting seeds in my yard. I have tons of flowers, veggies, herbs, and some fruit...but never once thought about gathering their seeds until this forum-thing came along! All of the plants I have listed on my website at Aunty B's Place are plants that I actually have in my different gardens here at home (although some of what I have isn't listed there yet), so I have LOTS of opportunities for collecting seeds...I just need to figure out how to find them! So glad to have a seed-collecting expert to fall back on! Thanks a bunch!

Poppysue - can I add this to the FAQ?

Dave

That's for sure. I'm a backyard gardener just like you. I've collected many NON-viable seeds and learned from my mistakes. (I hope *S*). You will learn AuntyB - especially now that your looking for them.

Dave - as far as your FAQ - Are you going to add another section? I don't see any other volunteers coming out of the woodwork for the unwritten parts. I'll look it over again - maybe there's another one I can do. I can't handle the computer & linking stuff. I'll leave that up to you ~ "Techy Dude".

Dave, if it's the seed saving you want poppysue to add...then perhaps you need to add a chapter of seed saving to the faq...I think we could all contribute and add to it without having to have one person be responsible. We all have different plants we collect seed from and know where/how to do it thus, most everyone can contribute. What do you think? I'd be glad to contribute the knowledge I have on the plants I have.

Maybe it's time to port the FAQ over to a Plants Database, with seed collecting as a part of it.

Let me think about this for a bit. This is something that I REALLY want to do.

Dave

I want to help. I can help with some seed collecting. I can help with some pictures although I am not going to offer any of my blurry ones that I have now. I have some film to develop and then I can offer clear pictures. Most of the ones that I have now are with a cheap digital camera. I have about 20 rolls of film to develop though and should have some really nice pictures. I even took some pictures of my seedlings (crazy me) when I started them 2 years ago. I plan to buy a better lense for my camera so I can get some good closeups and a better digital. So watch out next year.
On my sage, the flowers are different than all of my salvias, they were small and not very noteworthy. My seeds are more attached to the old flower, kind of like on daisies. The seeds are very small.

I did oregano this year. The seeds are extremely tiny (looks like a grain of sand), in the flower heads. I tried shaking and then smunched them up and shook out the seeds through a screen.

Rise Ann