That's good advice. I have some very old seeds that I plan to give a try, rather than throw them out. I can say, from experience, that onion seeds don't age at all well, and I throw them out after 2 years.

MM

"Dames Rocket - yup"

Invasives do tend to be resilient. Hesperis is on the noxious weed list for 46 states. Including yours :-)

Huh, never knew that. Planted Dames Rocket at my old house (just a mile away) and never had an ounce of trouble with it. In fact, after a few years, it pooped out (i.e. didn't come back).

Thanks for the encouraging post! I found some seeds the other day, dated 2001, and winter sowed them. They were Columbine 'Black Barlow' and the funny thing is, I never bought them, and have no idea how they got in the gardening drawers in the garage. Anyway, the picture on the seed packet looks pretty cool, so I hope they germinate.

I'm still planting pepper seeds that my father - who died in 1990 - saved for his 1991 garden. They come up every year.

Last year my oldest sister gave me a bag of seed packets. I don't know how she came by them, but they are ancient - one packet of cayenne peppers was labeled 1976, and there were coleus and petunias and maltese cross from the 1980s and early 1990s. I've planted all of these and so far have seen only amaranthus emerge. But it's not a tragedy since they were unexpected freebies anyway (and I have other coleus and petunia seeds that are newer).

I always save leftover seeds to replant the following year. They're stored in the fridge between summers. Some don't last, but most do.

Hi, I am panicking because I have too many seeds this year and wondering if they would still be viable next year. So, thanks for the reassurance. Are there some varieties that definitely have to be planted right away?

Thanks.
Becky

There are probably some that won't be any good. Just refridgerate in a ziploc bag and hope for the best.

Don't panic though. I used to feel bad tossing extra seeds, but the reality is you spend $1-$3 for the seeds and you usually get $10-$30 worth of plants, not to mention the fun and feeling of satisfaction. So what if they give you 50 seeds and you only use 10 or 20. It's OK! (I'll probably get crap for saying this though) :)

We see these stories about once every year or two;

Here is a link that might be useful: another 2000 year old palm seed sprouted