Scabiosa seeds

I'm VERY new to saving seeds, so please be patient with my ignorance. I've read through many threads trying to determine how and why you need to "clean" seeds. I guess I need a class in Seed Saving 101, so please feel free to guide me to articles or threads that would help.

I recently purchased one pincushion flower (also called scabiosa, I think.) I had also bought a packet of seeds. The ones on the current flower in my garden that are drying up look just like the ones I purchased. As I collect these, can I plant them immediately and expect results, as long as they are dry?

in your zone... i would think you'd have stuff popping up and possibly even blooming by now.

as for "clean" seeds ... my guess that means 'without any chaff' [extra stuff]
that way, when trading, you are only sending the seed, not the 'extra stuff' along.

there is a thread on scabiosa ... where i added a photo of what my seeds look like.
anything else that you may collect would be the chaff or extra stuff.

if you take the dried seed head, from last years blooms, and just sorta crumble them onto the soil ... my guess is that some of them will germinate for you.

Thank you very much. I will try to find your thread.

Sharley, Yes, you can plant them immediately without drying.

If you want to store them they have to be dry first.

If you want to trade them, they need to be dry and sort of cleaned up a bit. Not like a seed company cleans them, but not a lot of nasty brown bits mixed in.

Gee, you have a lot of different choices!

Suzy

Thank you. I will go ahead and plant some of them and also practice "cleaning" the seeds, so that I will have some to trade or give away.

Whoa! I just came upon thread to post about the very thing, you guys are discussing. So, I don't have to wait for seeds to be extra dry? If I see a dead flower from a day/wk ago? It should be fine to plant? For some reason, I thought you had to wait for end of season, then harvest dried, matured buds! (Is that just another way...to get mass amounts, I guess? One more thing, then you can also trade these as seed, when people want 1 of your plants? (just make sure they're dry & clean) Michelle