I don't know what the best answer to this is, but I'd be inclined to do both. Put some in now and see what happens, but save some for next spring. Then you can tell us. I don't think I've ever had cleome self-sow and come up the next year here in northern Michigan, so maybe that's a vote for doing it in the spring.

ThinMan

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Last summer I scattered cleome seeds around. The only ones which have been successful were the ones that grew where they fell on their own. In fact they were way TOO successful and I had to thin out about 75 plants!! They did not transplant very well. I am going to try to collect some and wintersow, transplant them earlier and see how things go next year. This year they have bloomed slightly (2-3 weeks)later, mostly purple (last summer I had bought white and purple) but a couple of beautiful pink ones have been a nice surprise. They seem to be one of the very few plants that the bunnies don't like.

Brodie

My cleome reseeds like crazy. So I would suggest saving the seeds to plant in the spring. You will get some reseeding in that bed anyways. No need to sprinkle seeds there now, nature does it for you.

Tracy

Yep the boogers self sow like crazy fer me!! Their not as tall as their ancestors! Though you can collect when the pods get big and ripe. Also as the other poster said. Let nature takes it's course. The mommie cleome will have lots of little baby cleomes!!! Please excuse this post. I'm a little giddy.

You see gardening is my passion! When other people used to say to me "Oh That self sows" I thought well it never does for me. Well low and behold I planted cleome in plastic window boxes last year. They came back this year. Not as tall though quite adequate.

thanks everyone. i will do both, save some and plant some now. How do I store the ones I'm going to save? I'm really new at this. thanks!

Cleomes ('Queen' series) reseed here & I've had success relocating the volunteers when they're young with a good chunk of soil, easy to ID when true leaves appear.

ButÂthey sprout late, indoor-sown are way ahead of self-seeded.

Storing saved seed? In brief, make sure it's thoroughly dry before packing (generous sized brown paper bag on top of refrigerator works for me.) Separate seed, then store it cool and dry. Those silica gel packets that come in everything from leather shoes to electronics absorb excess moisture.

I tried winter sowing them (collecting the seeds in late summer and planting them in pots and leaving them outside after christmas) - (see the winter sowing forum). But I had no success in getting those to grow. So, like Brodie, I'm thinking that it's best to take the seeds now and plant them in the ground immediately. Maybe they didn't like being inside for those few months.