Do you like to grow your own plants from seed you have collected from your own garden. Well as you would expect it is as easy (or difficult) as nature intended but gardeners can certainly help with the selection and dispersal process.

When seed is ripe or ready to be distributed you can help with the distribution process and the timing to get optimum conditions. I have just collected lots of seed from a colourful Aquilegia that I want to establish in my garden. The seeds are presented in a tubular pod with 5 cells that turn from green to brown and then progressively twist to squirt out the seeds over a couple of days. The squirting or sprinting process is like us squeezing an orange pip to get it to fly and is a key way of seed dispersal in nature. Pansies use the same process from a triumvirate of seed husks.

I collect the seed just before the husk is totally brown and keep it in a paper bag or old envelope for a week. By then the seed will fall out and the husk can be thrown way. Seed can then be sown in good conditions in the right place my Aquilegia will go into seed compost in september for upto 3 months in full light to help germination.

Seeds can be dispersed in nature by the wind (you only have to think of the dandelion clock). The seeds of my Anemones today were fluffy and set to fly so again choosing the colours like liked I collected them and immediately covered them with soil in a spot that will be undisturbed for a good while. It takes several years for the Anemone to build up a flower sized corm and if I get nothing I have only lost a bit of time.
Before Foxglove seeds are blown all over your garden collect those colours you select and dispose of the rest. Plants that have lots of seeds are prepared for a low success rate in protecting the species but this never seems to be a problem for my Foxglove so this is my form of weed control.

Other seeds are housed in pods like peas and beans or rotting fruit like the tomato; they can even be distributed via birds digestion systems like Elderberry. You can jump in early and take the pollinated seed to sow as you wish.

F1 seed can’t be created in a normal garden and cross pollination of my Pansies and Aquilegia means I may not get what I expect but it is fun trying.