Hi Calliope, I know what you mean, but those plants that can be planted before frost date usually can take frost easily. My nasturtiums, e.g. went through a few snow falls last year with their beautiful leaves and flowers before they finally yielded. I agree that one must know his area well and know how to estimate (though we cannot be 100% accurate). For some annuals, I wait 2 weeks after our formal frost dates, then check the forecast for the next 10 days, and if it looks good I can plant them. For tender annuals, I might wait a little longer or start indoor. For half-hardy or hardy annuals, I can start earlier.

That's interesting about collecting green seeds. At one point, I noticed green seeds underneath the foliage, but didn't pick them since I figured they were not mature enough. I never saw brown seeds on the plant, just on the ground, and not as many as I had seen on the plants. Good to know for next year so I can hopefully collect more seeds. I have a couple other nasturtium plants I started a couple weeks ago, but I doubt they'll have time to bloom, but the foliage is pretty as well. I will definitely grow more next year, as they did so well for me this year. For the longest time, I had loads of flowers I could bring in and put in vases around the house. roflol, I would think yours just haven't set seed yet, as I'm sure you would have seen at least a couple by now.

I planted what was suppose to be a mahogany colored nasturtium this Spring. It's now covered with bright red blooms. Pretty - but I waited with baited breath on those mahogany ones Martha Stewart promised me! ha. This is the second time I planted flower seeds of hers and got a totally different color from the beautiful photo on the pack. I planted her "truest white Climbing Nasturtium" too. It only sprawled and I got one bloom out of four spindly plants. It was a creamy white. But to be fair, they probably didn't get enough sun.

Sorry, I don't check here every day... Those are the seeds, each round is a seed, like a large pea, but with ribs :) You'll find two, three, sometimes even four at the end of a stem...if you aren't finding any, lift some foliage and look on the ground - they release while still green. There are some that are self sown around the compost pile here, if I just brush my hand over them, the seeds drop.