Ditto Karen. If there's still seeds left in the pods, then they should be viable. I collected seeds from my favourite Echinacea just a couple of weeks ago. The finches had not gotten to the seedhead and it was so perfect with all it's seeds. I also collected from a Butterfly Bush and some Rudbeckias.

Looks a bit like silene, aka German Catchfly, but I could be wrong. Doesn't look like any weed I know. Give it a chance to flower. (I'm doing that right now with some unknowns, wintersown last year, just so I can figure out what they are!)

Hi Ruth Ann, Now I got your name right. I'm usually pretty careless when I'm planting seeds I gang plant 10-25 seeds in a 6" clay pot usually in December when we are turning on the heat and a good warm radiator gives a good boost and my germination rate is usually 95-99% I keep them moist not wet to avoid rot and fungis in the soil. I always soak the seeds for 24 hours, some say it's not necessary but I like the seeds to stick good to the soil. I always use bogsoil as my country produces tons of that and it's very cheap and drains very fast. After germination I let the small plants grow quietly till March/April and then I replant the seedlings and they go into the greenhouse. When the trunk gets hard enough they go out in the garden to face the real sun and our strong winds, sometimes they fly around the backyard and loose a few leaves but that only seems to make them stronger. I might be an unnatural farther and mean to my plants but we live in a country where wind and hurricanes rules but luckily the country is fairly mild and I have Plumerias surviving the rough conditions for 19 years by now. Soren

Some seeds stay viable longer than other seeds. If you have enough seeds, you can test them by soaking them in water for a few hours then wrapping then in a damp paper towel. Count the number that germinate after the usual germination time divided by the number of seeds and you will have a current germination rate. You tell germination by seeing a small root develop. And by the way, you can plant those. I routinely do that with direct-seeded plants like corn and beans.