Salvia-ceanothus: when & how? please...

Okay, I'm trying to do some learning before it comes time to start collecting seeds, as I've never done it. I would like to save seeds from our CA natives to cut down on the number of plants we have to buy. I searched messages but didn't find exactly what I needed.

I've read the seeds need to be mature, but how does one know? My biggest salvia is just about done blooming -- how long can I leave the spent flowers on for seed maturation?

I know hybrids will come true to parents, which is okay for some things I have -- I'll just get variety. But will the plants be good?

The ceanothus flowers are very tiny -- can I really get seeds from them?

I know I need a book, but it will have to wait -- library was out.

Thanks for your help!

P.S. How about wildflowers?

It has been my experience with Salvia that the seeds are ready to harvest when they are brown or black, and readily fall out of the calyx. Sometimes you miss them because one day they're not ready to harvest and boom the next day the seeds have dropped out of the calyx. I usually wait until the calyx turns brown and then gently squeeze the base of the calyx, with a collection cup underneath and the seeds drop out into the cup. After you harvest the flower stem you can cut it off and this helps with aesthetics and also may stimulate the plant to make more flowers. This works well for S. coccinea, S. yunnanensis, and S. farinacea, and S. uliginosa. For the latter 2 species you almost have to pick the calyx off the stem and peel off the husk to free the seeds...labor intensive but if you're a salvia addict you will do it LOL. It's not so bad because with uliginosa it has this marvelous fragrance when you handle the material.

I can't help you with ceanothus...haven't grown them before.

Joseph

Joseph, thanks very much for that reply. I'm a beginner beginner, so step-by-step is good. The one I have with dry flower heads is a S. melliflera (black sage). I've tried several of them but, although they are dry and crumbly, I don't see any seeds. Will keep trying.

I may have some S. mellifera seeds at home. I will check my stash and if I have them I will describe what they look like so you can develop a search image in your mind's eye.

Alas, I have S. munzii, not S. mellifera. Sorry I can't help you. It's too far to drive over to look at them hahahahaha. Do you have a lot of them? I'd be happy to look at a subsample of them if you'd like to send some to me. If I found what appear to be seeds to me, I'd send them back.

Yes, it's a long drive -- but the weather's pretty good! All the ones I've checked so far look like they've already dropped seed. I'll just have to keep watching and catch some at the right time, I guess. I only have one plant but it's huge, despite the fact it's less than a year old. The nursery tells me it grew too fast because of all the rain we had, and now it's looking pretty rangy and needs cutting back. Thanks for your help, though, I think I know what to do now. If I find some seeds, I'll post a picture!

Cheers,

Kathleen