Lol, just about all of the above mentioned plants are botanical perennials, though many are used AS annuals. I think that larkspur is a true annual. Many of our most popular 'annuals' are tender herbaceous perennials, which means that in colder parts of the world, they are killed by freezing temperatures and do not return though many of them reseed. That behavior still doesn't make them annuals in the botanical sense of the word. It makes them tender perennials. ;-) We'll see them labeled as annuals in catalogs and seed packets and on-line because that's how the vast majority of us use them. The annuals in your data base are perennials, with the exception of the genus Linaria, in which there are true annuals and perennials. Canna, for example, is a rhizomatous plant. It's not hardy where you are, but actually quite long lived warmer temperate zones. I'm only being a stickler on this because you seem to be taking great care in compiling your database. I know that you want it to be accurate. And you really couldn't be faulted by clumping many of these plants together because they are used AS annuals. You should do a search on true annuals so that you can add to your list. Zinnias and marigolds qualify. If you are collecting information on other categories of plants besides those known for their flowers, there are lots of grasses and food crops that are annuals, too.

Susan, I just let my fruit dry on the vines last fall, then broke the seed pod in half and planted half a pod, with the seed still inside, in a nursery pot with good potting soil. Watered it, put it in the greenhouse to overwinter, then set it outside this spring. I got seven plants from doing it that way. Last year was my first year growing the Maypop vine so the whole thing is new to me. I didn't even know if the seed was mature. In the past, I'd tried other ways of planting cleaned seed that I had purchased and never gotten anything to germinate. Finally purchased a Maypop vine, which I grow in a big above ground pot. I have quite a few fruits this year but they're still green in color. Are your pods a different color? Of course, if you're wanting to clean the seed so you can share with other gardeners, then my way wouldn't work but wanted to pass along what I did to finally get some seed to germinate. I didn't try planting single seed from this dried pod (should have as an experiment) so that may have worked equally well. I've never tried to clean the seed so will let other folks help with that question. Mary

I prescrub the seeds in a sieve and add alot of water to the sieved gel juice. About half the time it takes 3 days at room temperature but sometimes up to 5. It is a lot less messy, time consuming and disgusting to do a little cleaning on the font end. No nasty sludge/floating mold to deal with. I use 16 oz deli containers with lids, but ziplock bags work just fine in an emergency. I've left seed in for a week many times with no sprouting, the ones that did sprout were sprouted on day 4. Sometimes seeds sprout inside the fruit, generally in store bought fruit possibly from long term storage, so I wouldn't rush to take half fermented seeds out just because you are afraid of sprouting, its going to happen, rarely, or not.

What's the best technique for drying? in sun or away from light? Should I refrigerate or just keep at room temp? Do I plant just like regular purchased seeds or do they need special steps first? Can you explain fermenting, please? Yes, just for me ... I've never really saved seeds before, as I only grow a dozen or so plants a year (mixed tomatoes and peppers) and like to mix it up some, but I wanted to try on these because obviously I don't have more for certain, since I purchased Mint Julep ... which I will be marking as possibly having other seed in the packet.