Are you a seed thief?

I was walking along after a class on a college campus and saw some gorgeous ornamental grass a form of miscanthus sinesis. So I plucked some of the stalk that had gone to seed. I know it will look fantastic in my yard next year. It is a way to grow some great stuff for your landscape without paying the big bucks. But it does pose a slight moral dilemma. The question is- Have you done this and what have you taken?

(I posted a similar message that no one has responded to, so I have changed it a bit.)

Cabr~ a seed thief NEVER!... but I am a seed travel agent! I take seeds and jet set them to worlds unknown.... in my gardens! ;0)

I've been known to notice broken stems on unusual plants and rescue them.
Take them home and start cuttings.

Paul

I haven't gotten the courage to try it....although I've done a great deal of thinking about it.....I even considered mildly encouraging my young children to pluck off starts from plants-no one could be angry at a young child for "picking flowers"-but then figured that would be even more immoral. ;)

I think it's fine as long as you don't mind someone coming in your yard picking and plucking. Does this apply only to ornamentals or vegetables and fruits also?

Gotta say, there's a plant on my own community college campus that I covet... I've "liberated" a few cuttings and now some seeds... I would've asked if I had any idea who to ask...

I know, I know... it's a moral dilemma. I guess I feel a little differently about the seeds, because they're just going to fall to the ground and sprout anyway, or birds would scatter them, or whatever. I'm just Mother Nature's little dispersion helper! I felt a little tweakier about taking cuttings, because that is actually damaging the plant, but I did it anyway.

One of the worst things I ever did in this category is that one day I was visiting GreenSprings in northern Virginia, which is sort of a small botanical garden. I noticed a bat-faced cuphrea that had "popped" some of its seedheads all over the concrete walkway. I looked both ways, knelt down, and quickly gathered them up and stuffed them in my pockets.

Then I started feeling guilty. I thought about how it isn't a plant you see every day, and maybe this "plant museum" had plans for those seeds. So...I walked quite a ways and found some officials of the garden, stuttered and sputtered like the guilty person I was that the plant was there, just spilling seeds all over the place, and well, I just wanted them to know! Then I turned and ran out the door.

They looked at me as if I was a nut.

This message was edited Oct 6, 2007 11:23 PM

This message was edited Oct 6, 2007 11:23 PM

LOL Brightstar, I can imagine the looks!!

I harvest seeds anywhere I see em:LOL: I work at a WalMart in sporting goods but have taken home seeds from all sorts of older plants that haven't sold. I also ask for the pots before they throw away those prefilled mixed planters. No sense tossing a good pot, I just make a contribution to Children's Miracle Network for about $5-10 depending on how many pots I take.

I got some native eastern columbine seeds at the NC Zoo and some gorgeous magenta celosia at the drive through at McDonalds:lol: Made it a happy meal for me=) corny but I had to you understand!

dmac,

What is a magenta celosia? I tried to find it in the plant files, but couldn't. Is there another name for it?

Thanks,

Dana

Ya'll are too funny. I find it best not to try to explain what I was doing if I 'get caught'.
They are just seeds, it's not like we are going to rob the place! LOL
Dmac, I am amazed at the plants at Mc Donald's. Think I'll call and ask who the landscaping company is.
Hey Diamondlady. Nice to see a neighbor here :) I have wheatstraw celosia or birthday candles?? Can't remember and it's too dark to go out and look.

Spent the weekend at a B&B in Salado, Texas. Everywhere we went the plants were winding down and producing seed. If there were abundant seed, I took a few. Sometimes the seed is important in keeping the plant going the next year in the same place...sometimes not.

Dana, it just one of the plume type celosia and the color is a vivid magenta. They were about 12-15 inches tall and I was trying to catch them before the landscapers yanked them out:) I agree about the landscaping at McD's--although I hate to actually see them change the beds:lol:

http://jardin-mundani.com/amaranthaceae/celosia2.jpg

It was almost exactly like this one. One of my favorite celosias is Apricot Brandy which is harder to find than when I first bought seed a few years ago. Now only one place on line sells it. I did find a packet of saved seed from some I planted a couple years ago so I'll get them going in the spring and try to get some more seeds.

This message was edited Oct 8, 2007 11:19 PM

This message was edited Oct 8, 2007 11:23 PM

They had those at Home Depot earlier in the summer...

ZOMG! your a seed ninja! don't group with him for gardening quests!!!1one

I am glad to know that I am not the only one! I also liberated seeds from some black fountain grass. I also started thought of having my kids take some. But I thought if someone is going to have a problem then it should be with me!! I agree that for the most part the seed is just going to fly away in the breeze and I should help to spread it!

Got seed from the daylilies in front of Chase Bank today. Gettin real good at looking for opportunities.

LouC

The bank near where I live has a candle plant, the type with the yellow "cones" pointing straight upwards. I picture myself sneaking up there in the dark of night, just before a big frost so I won't feel so guilty, and looking up, down, all around, and then whipping out my clippers and whacking off a few good cuttings! Then stuffing them in my jacket and running off with them!

In my daydreams, I'm even wearing a cat burglar outfit sometimes. Dressed in black, ski mask...

1

This message was edited Oct 18, 2007 1:21 AM

Flowerman, try again.

LouC

My grandmother used to say that the "stolen cuttings root better than the given cuttings" and that "seeds from the street germinate better than from the bag". She used to have a beautiful garden, until the grape-vine turned it too shady for many plants. Most of the annuals in my childhood garden were from seeds taken by my grandmother in her evening walks. If there was anybody to ask, she would. Out from the street, my favorite childhood summer smell: flowering tobacco.
I found out that, many times, asking can be very rewarding. Not just from your friendly neighbours, but from complete strangers. Including a lonesome name-less tag-less bulb found at Home Depot that I was willing to pay for.
I didn't steal seeds, though i can qualify for a thief by thought (many a times I wanted to do it, but something held me back). I have mentally "stolen" cuttings of a gorgeous yellow hibiscus (flowers big as a coffee plate) and of Japanese lanterns, and seeds of plants I don't know by name, but they were pretty.
However, for real fact, I "took" once two cuttings of a red impatiens in front of a bank in Coral Gables, without asking permission (didn't have any person to ask, since it was evening and the bank was closed).
I think a good dinner and a glass of wine released some inhibitions. I felt ashamed right away, but I didn't throw them away. It was too late for repairs.
After they rooted, I was "punished"! They were pink! I took from the wrong bush!!! I had plenty of pinks already, bought from my local HD...

OH you naughty but nice gardeners, yes I have been known to help myself to a few seed-heads on my travels, but I have to admit, I draw the line at taking cuttings, unless the plant/shrubs are on derelict ground, I remember an old gardening friend of my late father used to wander around the botanical gardens dressed like the old gentleman with his Sunday best suit on, shoes polished like glass and carried his umbrella, on asking my father why old Mr Muir always had to have an umbrella even in the lovely sunny days when he was out for his walks, my dad told me it was his cutting container, he just snipped off all the cuttings he fancied and dropped them into his closed umbrella and strolled along from shrub to shrub, then one day he was caught, when the skies opened, he was still walking with his closed umbrella, one of the gardeners assumed that he could not get his umbrella opened, the gardener decided to help, opened the umbrella up for him and on doing so, the gardener was showered with greenery, seed-heads etc, Mr Muir was escorted to the gates of the gardens and told in no uncertain terms never to set foot within the parks again as these were planted for everyone enjoyment, education and pleasure.
so I guess there are strict rules for each place. I know when we first planted out areas of our very large gardens (like a 10 acre area) we would find some shrubs dug out and on one occasion, they even took my barrow to carry the spoils away with them, we never did find who did it, but thankfully, it is only the deer who cut back everything in sight unless you get one step ahead of them and place nets or other form of protection around the trees and shrubs till established. there is nothing worse than spending a fortune on trees and shrubs to find that someone has came and dug them up.
Happy seed gathering, we just need to ask our birds and other creatures to be a bit more selective as to which seeds are required, weeds ain't one of them. WeeNel.

outside my doctor's building, there are a lot of daylilies that no one really cares for - i often deadheaded a few as i'd go by cause they made me crazy. A couple of weeks ago, i noticed a scape with a proliferation on it. No one was going to ever do anything with it, so i thought i would!
; )
amy
*

I just returned from a conference in Orlando. Geez.....Disney is full of temptation!

~Megin

MzzPool,
My husband also just returned from a conference in Orlando. I wonder if you were at the same one? Did you hear Allen Greenspan speak?
Cabrlamo

No, Greenspan didn't speak at my conference; that would have been pretty cool though. Tons of conferences are set up in Orlando this time of year. The weather is perfect!

~Megin

me a seed thief....never! Clepto humm maybe. Thanks to this sweet elderly lady at the nursery. Yes this sweet elderly lady taught me the ropes. haha.. I was minding my own business one day walking around a local nursery of course my cart full and this lady approached me and asked if I was buying ALL those plants, Odd I thought but I went along with her and said yes, I loved plants and especially if I found anything unusual. Well, she proceeded to walk with me??? and started pointing out to me ALL these plants that had hidden seeds and explaining how her daughter has saved her thousands of dollars by going to college to become a plant expert. She explained that alot of people did'nt even know that half the plants could be rooted or where the seeds were located . Also that the nursery just cut the flowers back and throws away the seeds bla bla bla .I know she stayed with me a good 30 minutes. Needless to say it will be a nursery experience ontop of learning experience I'll never forget not to mention I still left with a full cart and a few extra seeds to boot and with her help of course.

Roc~How cute... you received a great seed saving tutorial!!

You know, if you share the plants that are grown from "liberated cuttings" then it isn't a sin. My yard and home are full of shared plants. My grandma taught me to grow plants from 1" cuttings. Every year I vow that I won't do it anymore, but it doesn't seem to "take". This time I mean it...no more cuttings. I think I can do it. I'll let you know after the Spring plants make their appearance.

I'm going to hell for sure, as the nearby church had the most beautiful wine coloured hollyhock that was just loaded with seeds. I went back later with my snipers and liberated a few of those seeds. If they bloom this year I'll know if it was meant to be or not.

Double blooms?

you went in with your snipers to liberate them?!? eek!

"I love the smell of Roundup in the morning..."
i hope the seeds appreciate their freedom...

ok, i am way sleep deprived.

Is it immoral if you notice a nice plant for sale in a nursery, and you notice a seedhead on the plant...and...and...

I keep snippers in my bag or pocket most of the time... they come in real handy. I also plant fruit trees in my front yard if someone is hungry enough to come in my yard and pick the fruit, then perhaps they need it more than me. I have double blooming and tropical hibiscus's and mallows right by the street in case someone wants to take a snip. I don't think god made these wonderful plants for only one person to enjoy. If Ya know what you are doing, you don't have to seriously damage a plant to help it reproduce. My grandmother was a total plant nut, I think she planted that seed in my heart :D

Manic, that is so cool and realistic to know that others may enjoy your fruits and seeds! We garden right up to the street as well. Sometimes the tomatoes get 'shared', but we always have more than we can use. As long as they are careful not to damage the plants...usually it's the neighborhood children. And who can be upset at them eating tomatoes??
As for the seeds, not too many people around here are quite ready for that. The birds get lots though:-)

I went to a farmer's market about ten years ago and there were broken pieces of wandering jew from hanging baskets all over the floor. I picked it up and still have plants enough for the county every year from the plants from those cuttings. Does this count as being a theif? When you just pick "garbage" up off the floor?

Absolutely not! You just kept those trimmings from going to waste and taking up room in our already over-flowing landfills. You did the community and the country a favor. I applaud your actions.
Actually, I have no idea what the conditions of our landfills are. I only know that I do that exact same thing whenever I can and it makes me feel better if I look at it as a good deed I'm doing. I take my good deed one step further. I share the "aquired" plants with others, making me an even finer person. Think I need therapy???

I was at an estate sale last summer and this very brazen woman walked over to the deceased womans hanging potted plants and took ALL the sempers out of it...I quickly walked over to her and asked her how could she! didn't her mom teach her how to share and stuck out my hand..ok the last part is not true I didnt ask for any...but I really did think it was brazen of her to just keep plucking them out of the basket...

however, I am known to help the local box stores dead head their inventory when they don't do it...I'm not stealing - I'm tidying up...at least thats how I rationalize it to myself

I keep baggies and a marker in my backpack when we go to the zoo, and collect dead flower heads that I can reach. I have gotten some awesome plants that I didn't even know existed that way.
Kathy

Mexican Bird of Paradise/Pride of Barbados- I've plucked the pods off of a Pride of Barbados but since they are indigenous, people take them for granted around here and the just sit all winter long with thousands of pods all over the place, some on the ground.

Bougainvillea-I've snipped my neighbors bougainvillea when it comes over the wall and hangs in my yard. It is right over my garden and I often run into it and it cuts me in the face or gets caught in my hair. If it is any consolation, I did it between tenants so no one lived there when I did it. I used some as starters in my front and back yard, they never took anyway.

Y'all have me thinking though of all the different possibilities (devious snicker)