LeahLu, "...can I cut the whole flower to save the seeds now?" I wouldn't cut off the whole flower, in case the seeds aren't quite mature yet. Instead, pull out a few individual petals and inspect them. This picture shows that you can have "fat" viable seeds attached to petals that still have color, but not all of the seeds will be viable. Some will be "empty". Discard the "empty" seeds. Put the "fat" ones aside on a newspaper or paper towel to dry. You don't want to package them "wet" or bad things can happen, like mold or even sprouting in the package. If you don't intend to store the seeds for next year, but want to plant them now, you could do that. I don't know what your zone is, but zinnias can bloom in six weeks from seeds and in some areas you can get two outside crops of zinnias in a year. The covering on "green" zinnia seeds is still living and, for that reason, it is impervious to water. That's why the seeds don't sprout in the zinnia heads during a rainy season. You could just plant them and they would probably come up in three or four weeks after the seed coat died and became water permeable. To get them to come up quicker, you can operate on the seed coat in various ways to expose the embryo to water, like in this picture. You can remove the embryos altogether and plant embryos instead of seeds. Incidentally, those missing petals on that zinnia in your first picture could be a sign that a seed-eating bird plucked those petals out and ate the seeds attached to them. Zinnia embryos are yummy to some birds. Be on the lookout for zinnia petals lying on the ground under your zinnias. Saving green seeds instead of waiting for the zinnia heads to get brown is one way to cope with seed-eating birds, and to avoid water damage in a brown seedhead. If you are shucking a brown zinnia seedhead and you see a little root sticking out of a seed, that seed is dead, killed by water damage. ZM

Chris, Nerf and Quirk: Turn on your Houzz email. Go to the upper right, click on Your Houzz, then click on edit profile, next go to advanced settings and scroll way, way down to where it says "who can email me" and change it to "allow anyone to email me". hope this helps Mary

Hi, 1. I'm searching for the item in the #3 section, right? Yes. 2. If so, is that coming from the end of the petal shown in the #1 section? Yes 3. Should I be ripping them apart or drying them still in the dead headed flower bloom Don't rip apart the blooms until they are ready to be harvested off the plant. 4. The part in section #2 on some flowers is very brown and dried while some of the blooms are half dry/half white and moist-like. Did I pick those ones too soon? Yes, you picked them too soon. 5. Are any of the blooms in the picture below ready to be dead headed? Or should I wait longer? You need to wait. As CCarolyn said the stem under the bloom being brown is the best indicator. So should I just pitch this batch and wait till I find some with brown stems? Yes, waiting until completely ripe will give you a much higher percentage of good seeds. The seeds you picked, a few might be ready to go, but many probably won't grow. Hope that helps, Remy

It's an addiction so you'll probably enjoy being out there every day! I'm an addict, too. penstemon bloom, then form little pods that look like popcorn kernels. Let them dry and harden on the stalk. Each kernel has teeny tiny seeds in it. When you crack it open you'll see the baby seeds. coreopsis-the ones I've dealt with formed a small cluster where the bloom was. It's a difficult choice whether to deadhead or let them go to seed. I like the look when they're all deadheaded. The dry head, when pinched open with your fingernail, will have 3 or so seeds about the size of a radish seed. columbine-seed pods are glorious. After blooming there's a crown-shaped pod. Let it dry, but get it before it breaks open and spurts those seeds everywhere. There are teeny sides inside that multi-pronged seed pod. daisies-are probably setting seed now. The petals fall off, but the yellow button center remains and turns a darker yellow. When dry, snip off the head. When you brush your thumb across the yellow surface it will turn into 100s of seeds. Easy to put in an envelope and save yarrow-isn't very pretty as it moves toward seed stage. The large, flat flower heads dry, the vibrant color fades. Again, you have to be patient to wait for it to mature and dry. I cut off the flower head lower on the stem. Once inside, I try to brush, shake the seeds onto a paper or plate. peonies- I researched starting peonies from seed and it sounded like more than I could handle. The directions said to chill the seed for 2 years (in the refrigerator?). I decided that was beyond my skill set although I look at those seeds every year and wonder. daylilies-wonderful seed pods like green eggs at the top of a chopstick stuck int he ground over the bending green leaves. They dry slowly. Once dry (but before t hey break open) the seed pods are so much fun. Each seed is inside a separate little room inside the seed pod like a 3-bedroom apartment for 3 best friends. cosmos-my favorite seeds to save. Petals fall off and the seed head is a small ball. When ripe, the black seeds split apart easily and are hard. If you see anything soft or green, it's too early.