I hear you. Around a city lake this fall were all kinds of spent flowers screaming at me too. I did not take all off of any one plant, and I took those that had broken stalks, or bent to the ground at first. Once I get the flower seeds from my 'stolen' seeds maybe I will reseed the area I took them from?

As for the coffee cups............Shame on you. But I am sure if you put up a container and a sign most of us coffee drinkers would glady give you our used cups. BTW, I just bought two pkgs of about 50 cups each of the larger size styrofoam for a dollar each. Buy a pkg and bring them to work.

Once you get into it you will find a lot of discarded containers that will suit your ws needs.

Do you know that nanny cams are hidden just about anywhere these days?

Ha Ha so right about the nanny cam. How embarrassing would it be to explain why you stole the office cups. lol lol.

They'd be looking at you like you lost your mind lol

I stole some Mother of Thousands babies at Lowes. I am so embarrassed. It would be bad to go to jail over a pinched African Violet leaf as well. I also took a coleus cutting. Please don't tell anyone. We need to start a support group. LOL.

In my defense a new bag of cups was in place in the pantry when I walked by at the end of the day. It was probably there sooner when the cleanup crew cleaned out the garbage but I wasn't about to return to the scene of the crime! Of course I had to resist all urges to take some more. As for the nanny cams.. I sure don't want to get called into the boss' office and explain to him why I've been stealing cups LOL.. id have to explain the whole wintersowing method to him!

Benny -
I particularly like the "seeds on the floor" score! In my opinion, there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of there, but boy, I can only imagine the expressions of passing shoppers if they noticed you "cleaning up" spilled seeds!

You gave a confirmed seed snatcher a great laugh! And you can bet I'll be compelled to glance at the floor next time I see a seed rack!

Happy surprises when your mystery seeds come up.

DL

You're not really a criminal until you're caught. :)

Hi my name is Brandy and I'm a seed snatcher...and a dumpster diver...
I stole seed pods from a plant that was for sale at a box store(I'll let you know if they come up true!) In my defense I would like to point out that it was a certain colored stock that I hadn't been able to find! They were mean and put this plant in a large fancy planter with other things and were asking more than a body should have to pay...and I'm sure whoever bought it would have only thrown it away that fall 'cause they were all annuals AND I was only helping out by removing those seeds so the plants looked better(I also removed seeds from some of the other plants nearby)
You can't really prove that was my car parked by the recyle center all those nights!!
-B

The only problem with stealing those cups and explaining to your boss about WSing is that he might think that WSing sounds like something he might like to try.The cycle goes on and on...

Oh my gosh, you are funny.
I was reading your post and thought for sure you got to Home Depot and started filling your pockets with seed packets!
Whew! glad you didn't. I'd bet it would be really hard to get your hands on some ws containers in the "joint".

A little seed-snatching never hurt anyone. One year I was eyeing a stand of hostas near my office, waiting patiently for the seeds to be ready, and trying to figure out how I was gonna get them without the nearby guard noticing.

WELL! I walked by one day and there was a lady in the hosta garden - bold as all get out, having stepped over the small fence there - snapping off the seed heads, with the nearby guard not paying the slightest attention. I was kinda pissed (at myself for being such a wuss), but I consoled myself with the fact that all those seeds she was "harvesting" were definitely NOT ready. Hehhehheh.

Lost my seed-snatching inhibitions that day. I've now progessed to cutting-snatching. A little trimming and pinching never hurts either - good for the plants.

PV

Heyitz,

I have everyone at my work saving soda bottles and used dunkin donuts coffee cups for winter sowing. I told everyone, cups = flowers for you in the spring!

I now have enough cups and soda bottles for me and the four others that are winter sowing with me this year. I got my cups AND I get to share some of my winter sown plants with people at work.

as for seed snatching...quilty as charged!!!! I have two nurseries in my town that had some great plants this past summer. I should have most of them by the summer of 2010!

Lisa

I got seeds for coreopsis lancelota and a purple daylily from Lowes. I got my lambs ear from a plant next to the street. The house is for sale and was empty at the time. I did prune a rose bush on an evening walk once. The cuttings died. Go figure. I also pruned a fig tree on 6th street a couple days ago. It had the most delicious brown figs this fall.

Yup, I'm a seed snitcher too.
And to top it off, I've enabled several family members to sneed snatch for me. I love it when they come to me with a fist full of a variety of who know's what seed mixed with some pocket lint.

I confess...I also stole some cuttings from a neighbor's August Beauty Gardenia. My cuttings all rooted in water. They are now in bud under a grow light. Those are the healthiest Gardenias I've ever grown.

echinaceamaniac...you know they commit suicide right after they bloom don't you?

I picked up a variegated gardenia from the flea market this summer. I tried doing cuttings in the fall, but something in the soil rotted everything in that container. I've got one cutting in my cloning machine right now. I think I see a nub, but I'm not sure. Trying not to check every 4 hours, but it's hard given how fast some things root.

And I do have other "borrowed" cuttings in there. This summer I will get cuttings from those pink roses down the street. They're not knockouts, but they bloom constantly all summer even when the temperatures go over 100. I want them. And I want them now! LOL

LOL!!

Guilty with you all as well!!

Last fall I started seed saving/trading which led to an increased ability to spot must have flowers. This then led to seed snatching. I even conned my husband and mother to do it!! The dog would get to go for walks at the oddest late night hours!!

A few times I wasn't prepared to snatch and just stuffed the seeds in a pocket. Since my memory is so horrible as a mom of two, I forgot what these seeds were before arriving home. How to WS packets marked with "?"?

I have also started recycle bin diving at the neighbors.

Where does it end?

A few years ago I drove down a side street on my way to an appointment & saw a recycling container with a BUNCH of gallon WATER BOTTLES on top. I vowed that, since I didn't have time to stop at the time, I'd "rescue" them on the way home. Of course I did-stop at the curb, pop the trunk, dart out & grab....AND it was 15 of them-TIED TOGHETHER! in the "handy take-home-size"! Plop into the trunk & fly! My greatest score! Actually most of my containers come from friends & family...

Last summer there were some marigolds in the landscaping at the Sonic drive-thru that were just the right shade of yellow, and just the right size of marigolds that I like. You never know looking at the seed packets for sure if they'll be what you want. When I was in the drive thru and they had gone to seed, of course I opened my door, and picked off some seedheads. I'm sure the people behind me thought I was crazy, but oh well!

Another time, I went up to the mall after they had closed and took several rose cuttings off the rose bushes that I liked.

However, a friend of mine really takes the cake! She lives across the street from a cemetary and noticed some beautiful yellow roses that had been left on a grave. So she went over there and took a couple of them to see if they would root! I never did ask her if they rooted...

Deanna

I have also snatched seed in the drive-thru. So brave was I that I was not at all embarassed when the staff was all staring at the security screen, wondering what I had just done:)

My mom stood in front of all to see at the clubhouse of her golf course, gallon zip lock baggies and scissors in hand, snipping seed pods of Lantana and Crepe Myrtle. I think she also chastised grounds crew for lopping off/tossing out seed heads before she could snatch them!!

I'm planning a snatching outing to the botanical gardens next spring AND fall next year:)

never snatched from the cemetery - maybe THAT'S where it ends??

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only snatcher...

I consider it 'helping' my local H.Depot by deadheading the plants they just leave looking so awful... their plants look 100% healthier and I get seeds! hehe

~Wendy

I was with DH and the grandkids when we had to stop at the bank. While DH went in to take care of business, I saw a nice bush in the parking lot. The bush had seed pods. I just couldn't help myself, I jumped out of the car and gathered up some of the pods. I put them in a "Tic Tack" container I had in my purse. The grandkids were happy to eat the liberated Tic Tacks. I think the bush was a Crape Myrtle, but I'm not sure. Another day, I was waiting at the school for my grandkids to come out and spied some "spiky balls" hanging from some trees in the parking lot. You guessed it, I climbed out into the planter and took some home. I have one of the baby trees in my holding bed. I think it is a sycamore.

Donna

I haven't resorted to criminal activity yet, unless you consider that I took the seeds off my neighbors canna. He had red foliage and I only had green. He is single and lives in the home that was once his mother's, and he wouldn't mind.

However, since I learned about winter sowing I can see it coming..........I was driving around town today and noticing how neat the tall grasses looked, blowing in the wind. Too bad they have already dropped their seeds or I would be planting some of those. I love them.