Cleome Spiders

I just noticed today these little green tubey like things. Are these the seed pods for this plant?

I hope so. I really like these flowers and would like to grow some from seed.

Molly

I don't know whether or not those are seed pods, but I do know that these guys reseed like crazy. They even come up in the cracks of the driveway at my house.

Oh Sylvi, now you have me excited. This is really good news for my butterfly garden!!!!

But I'm going to watch those little pod things and see about saving some seeds too.

Saving seeds is becoming a new hobby for me now since I'm having more successes growing from seeds.

Molly
:^))))

Do yours smell good? My friend had some yummy smelling ones. Let me know if those turn out to be seeds, now I'm curious.

Wait, let me go sniff......nope, smells like stink weed. I'll keep you posted about those little pods.

Molly

Molly, yes those are the seed pods. Wait until they turn a nice golden brown and then you'll know when to take them off. They will start to split too. The bottom ones will be ready before the plant stops blooming, then they will continue to seed up till the end of blooming. Make sure you check on those seeds once in awhile, as they will open and spread before you can save them. hehe

Donna

Thank you Donna,

I will keep an eye out, although self seeding a little is not undesirable in this flower bed.

I read that these are annuals, but down here annuals can be perennials, kinda.

I wonder if the bees will make the white and purple give off pink seeds?

Molly
:^)))

Molly those are definitly seed pods. I've been planting and saving them for two years now, and they seed like crazy. You'll be giveing those babies away. Have fun!!!! Mike

Thanks so much Mike, I'm waiting for them to dry now so I can save some.

Molly
:^)))

Molly, you may need to save the seeds and cold chill them in the fridge. Some varieties need stratification to germinate.

Thanks Melody,

Will do!

Molly
:^))))

I had almost forgot about this thread. The plants were definately annuals. I pulled what seed pods I could find on all 3 plants.

Some pods were empty, some had some worms and a bit of webs on them. I did take some seeds tho and shared with people at the Jax roundup.

I pulled up the dead plants and replaced them with Cosmos. I have some other Cleome seedlings in some Glad. pots so now when the self seeded ones come up, I will know they are not weeds.

Thanks for all your help.

Molly

melody - do you know without going to any trouble how long to chill them?

I just happened to have a tab opened and looked up Cleome. It suggests 14 days and references the following note as well:

I've never chilled our seeds and they all seem to germinate no problem.
I also have an observation re: how they smell. My cousin killed all of hers saying they stunk like crazy! LOL I told her she was crazy as ours have little to no smell at all. There must be soil conditions that play a role in that area.
We started off with only purple cleome and now we have so many different color and color combinations. I have some with the inner part of the flower being pink or purple with the surrounding parts being white and vise versa. We also have pure white flowers now too. I'll take come pictures of all the various color combos tonight and tomorrow.

How or what does it take to get a yellow cleome? I've bought 2 that were labelled yellow and the seller claimed they would be yellow. I can't get a yellow one anywhere. I have pinks and puples and every shade between the 2 colors. This is the 1st year we've had some grow with the white outter most part of the flower.
Has anyone else noticed that the pure white cleome are few and far between? We literally have hundreds of cleomes, 1/2 planted and 1/2 self seeded. WE have maybe 6-10 pure whites and that baffles me much like not getting yellow ones. Go figure;)
Thanks, JD

I used to save these seed. I don't any more. Once you know what a seedling looks like, you will find them coming up everywhere. When I pull up the old plants in the fall I drag them through my veggie garden, the next Spring I always have volunteers, even after tilling. Here is a pic of a volunteer in my perennial bed.
Andy P