Nope, the flowers aren't boring. They just require overwintering the roots and then having a second season of growth to get flowering, unlike many other veggies that will flower in one year. I've overwintered carrots and turnips in zone 5 with minimal mulch and watched them flower the next season. The carrots look almost like their wild counterpart, Queen Anne's Lace flowers, just a bit heftier. Turnips have a typical mustard/brassica flower with 4 petals. They sent up flower stalks almost as soon as the weather warmed enough for cold tolerant crops to grow. Here's photos of some I grew. From Turnip flowers and seeds From Turnip flowers and seeds From Turnip flowers and seeds Suzanne Ashworth's book, Seed to Seed, gives guidelines to follow if you want to harvest true to type seeds. Some of your listed veggies will cross with other garden and wild relatives. I don't think beet flowers are much to look at but may give them a chance to reproduce in my garden this year if they survived the winter. I'd be careful growing parsnips for flowers/seeds. The sap/juice in leaves and stems can cause severe rashes...seems like it is actually a burn due to photosensitivity...not sure on that right now, but be careful with them.

Tammy, Once I know if the Angelonia cuttings will root, I'll come back here and let you know. You might want to do a bit more research to determine if the seeds will come true before you spend a lot of time on germination. I've been trying my hand at propagating by taking cuttings of various plants and it's extremely easy for many things. Plus, you might be further along than starting with seed. Of course, the drawback is how or where to keep small plants over the winter. I don't have a greenhouse. If they will root, I'm going to try keeping a pot of the cuttings going by keeping them on a big windowsill over the winter. The same with the Diamond Frost. Another option is to just purchase one mother plant of each next spring and take cuttings then. I just recently purchased my Angelonia that I used for the cuttings. It's too early to tell if the cuttings will root but, so far, they're still green and fresh looking, which is a good sign. ^_^ It has such pretty, fresh looking blooms. The nursery where I purchased mine said they've bloomed all summer long. Mary

Thanks for the info on the verbascum seeds. Looks like I have some "pepper dust" seeds from mine. Still need some info on the Edelweiss though Fran

Thank you for introducing me to Wynne's. Unfortunately, my DH and pocketbook will not be thanking you! I was so impressed by the pictures of their plants and reasonable prices. I spent time at the site, reading and learning. What a wealth of information for the dahlia novice is there. I have grown "pot" dahlias for almost as many years as I've been gardening, and also grew a few of the taller varieties. These did not have larger flowers but they did produce "pretty" ones. It's just been in the last few years that I tried my hand at keeping my tubers over winter and had some success. I'm pleased because one of my keepers did not bloom last year - I may have planted it too late - but I have buds now. This is Hayley Jane and I can't wait to see it. I also have a plant given to me in a trade by Corgicorner, who I hope sees this message. Betty K is going to bloom too, Alfred, and I'm anxiously waiting to see it. I have much to learn and will be spending lots of time reading messages here and enjoying all the pictures everyone has shared. Thanks again, Linda