Why not just buy them? They are not expensive. Beats roaming around waiting for seeds to be ready. :) In a lot of areas, wild flowers seeds are already dormant in the soil. You just need to break the surface to let them germinate over the winter.

I thought it would be a fun way to get out and around. Like a little mini-adventure searching for seeds!

I agree with you, Renee. It's fun. There were vacant lots behind my house and I have collected plants and seeds from them without having problems. I also have friends who own big lots in the wild and they have let me collect some plants from their property.

Omar

Just watch out for snakes. Don't forget wild dew berries too. They're fun to pick and eat. Look for bramble looking patches with lots of white flowers about now. Go back a few months later and you'll be rewarded.

I've also dug some of the flora that grows on the side of the road to replant. As far as I know, it's not illegal. I don't do this on private property.

I do not know about digging up plants being legal or illegal ( I have done it too), but not too much. It feels weird.I only do it if there are MANY in the patch and they are quick to replicate. Never with agaves, cactus and slow uncommon perennials. Prickly pads are game, and I will take cuttings of anything and experiment with them. I am still kicking myself for not getting cuttings of a white leafed dark purple flowered dale I saw on the roadside in New Mexico. I do collect seeds with abandon. some penstemon seeds are still on the plants and collectable now , but the fall is the time. BUT what you do now is take notes of plants , what they are and where they are because , come fall those seeds will be non discript without their flowers. They might just be dried up stems if they are annuals. I have marked cool things with grocery ties. I also will mark things in rock outcroppings. The roadsides where it is flatter often get mowed. Penstemons are good to collect after they split in late summer. Others are good any time they get easy to separate off plants. Keep baggies( lunch bags are good), one can make notes right anthem. A camera to take photos flowering and in seed. Such a good excuse for a drive in the country.

I have never ran into a dangerous snake here wast of Austin but the danger is always there. A woman died out here in a Dripping Springs valley collecting when she was bitten by a snake years ago. West of Austin has fewer snakes than east of Austin.The fear has not stopped me from scouring the land for seeds. It is just too enjoyable. I think it gives you a real connection with the land AND the seed will be very in-tuned with your lands conditions if it is collected close by. I collected bluebonnet seeds from the other side of my hill. I got a good sunburn doing it , BUT they have been the only Bluebonnet seeds that I have gotten to take on my disturbed caliche soil. The commercial seeds never took.

If you are thinking of collecting rain lilies by digging and live in rocky dry soil, it is easier to collect the seeds and grow them from seed. I have broken trowels trying to dig them out in the hill country. Come back when the seeds have split. It will be in about a week or so. Keep your eyes peeled. Some bulbs like the pleated Celestial (sp?), don't like being moved when they are blooming. They will die and not come back. OH, and get a good wildflower book. It will live in your car's glove box.

White rain lilies are awesome when you find them on the black prairie soil. I dug up a few in the pasture once and transplanted them in the flower beds. With better soil the blooms actually got twice as big. They make seed pods after blooming that are filled with black paper like seeds. I collected those and sowed them everywhere, around tree trunks, near fences etc. Now I have them everywhere which is so cool. They are such a welcome surprise as they are such ephemeral flowers with unobtrusive foliage when not in bloom. They bloom just after a summer shower like the cenizos. Now I'm starting to collect the copper color ones which are not as common around my area.

In the hill country west of Austin the bulbs migrate MUCH deeper into the rocky soil in search for aqua and that only makes it harder. In clay and sandy soil , they are much easier to dig. I decapitated a bunch of bulbs trying to get tham and that is why I also say, collect the seed. If you are in easy soil go for it.

I always heard it was illegal to dig plants from the sides of roads here, but I couldn't remember where I heard it so did a search. There is a dps website that says it is illegal to dig but not to pick flowers from government property. So pick some seeds. If you want to dig, find some on private property where you can ask permission. I bet most ranchers wouldn't care if you took one.

There was a long thread on another forum several years ago, in which people were discussing or arguing about taking plants/seeds/cuttings from public places, & it made me think.

If I think it's okay for one person to do it, then logically it must be okay for everybody to do it.

If it's okay for a homeschooling mom to "harvest" seeds & take cuttings from plants in the park, then everybody who visits the park can do it, right?

If it's okay for you to snip off cuttings from my rose that hangs over the fence, then it's okay for me to snip off cuttings from your rose, right?

which of course it isn't.

Taking something that isn't yours isn't okay just because you don't see an owner & it looks like there's a bunch of it.

I *have* softened my position on this;

I used to be firm about "Nothing, No how, No where, Not under any circumstances".

These days, after I've seen highway crews mow down all kinds of things & utility companies smash & bulldoze all kinds of things, I have adopted the position that sometimes there are situations in which a conscientious gardener would/could/should intervene.

but I still maintain that said gardener must ask;

ask the guy on the bulldozer,

ask the receptionist at the botanic garden,

call the highway department & ask them when they're going to mow & ask them if they're going to re-seed for next year or if the plants that are blooming now are going to be the only source of next year's plants, & ask them if it's all right to collect seed.

ask *somebody*.

Taking something without asking isn't right.

Because I stopped on the road outside of Blanco and got a natural hybrid Muhney Riverichoni/lindheimeri grass seed and brought it home. I increased the diversity of my land and the hillside , that I took it from had maybe three hundred grass plants of that population. I do not think I hurt the land and I helped the valley behind me. The rain will carry those seeds into my neighbors yard. There was no one from Txdot there to ask. It was a legal act too..

I think that we need to be aware and think about each situation. One never takes many seeds from one spot. Never all of the seed from one plant or one patch. We do not want to remove the plants gift to the field. I will take about a 1/10th of a plant. I leave a very small footprint. But being SO good and above board as in regard to finding a responsible person for the side of the road in such a rigid way, does not interest me nor does my way cause me to loose sleep, nor will you succeed in making me feel guilty about how I do things.

Things I will not do is rustle plants off of private land without asking. I won't take a cactus even when people say I can. I buy them from a reputable dealer who grows them from seed. I will never dig up an agave, maybe a pup with permission. I will never dig up a Yucca or any plant that takes time to grow. I keep small and dig only with permission plants that will be replenished easily. If I can get seed , I won't touch the plant I prefer taking seed. I will never take all the seed off an agave because that plants contribution is only that years worth of seed. It flowers once, dies and makes seed only once. I will never dig in the spring, summer or fall. Digging is a winter thing and very rare happening. I am a seed person mostly.. I will not take plants, or cuttings from a biological park, but seeds might get into my pocket. I work at a park around here and they have told me to help myself to small amounts of seed of the common plants and a few cuttings taken with care.. I have no interest in the rare plants. No snow bells or canyon mock oranges for me. I buy them. Friends invite me over to their river front and land. I am not a perfectly good person... as some people say, progress not perfection.

My trip to HoustonI did take my my garden tools with me, just in case.

The plant that has intrigued me to want to do this is a beautiful Crinum Lily that comes up in the same spot in a ditch every year. It is a beautiful plant to see on my drives into town. I want to have one of my own to admire at home in my garden.

I am also just starting my gardening journey and have big dreams to turn my backyard and property around me into a lovely little wildflower cottage type garden that also serves as refuge and food for wildlife.

I'll definitely be taking note of some of your methods and try and collect some seeds from flowers I see on my drives into town or around the area. I've always wanted to grow bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes. There are also wild lantana and red sages that I really like.

This may sound a little morbid but some gravesites have an over abundance of irises and I asked if I could clean up a plot or two and get some rhizomes that way. Win - Win clean up and get some rhizomes as well.

Doesn't sound morbid at all. Gravesite are a prime collection site for antique roses, salvias ,a and bulbs. These old grave yards are a host to plants that have succeeded at the task of surviving with minimal care through years and years. Salvia farenacia 'Augusta Duelberg" and "Henry Duelberg " were collected from to very old graves and given their names. I love that story.

I love the story too! Here's part of it:

Greg Grant writes: " Although the cemetery where it was growing was a bit east for
Saliva farinacea, there where no other salvias in the cemetery,
or even native in the area. I'm not sure now long they had been
growing there but it seemed to be for some time. The plants had
reseeded quite prolifically in the grass and even in the cracks
of the concrete curbing.

"Henry Duelberg died in 1935 and his wife
Augusta in 1903. I have this theory that Mr. Henry was a botanical
sort and was dabbling in salvia breeding (you know "the father
of Texas botany", Ferdinand Lindheimer, was German too).

"When Mr. Duelberg died, I supposed they planted his handy work
on his grave. Long live Henry! Just in case I'm wrong, I named
a white flowered seedling 'Augusta Duelberg' from the same grave
for his wife. Who knows, SHE may have been the horticultural wonder
woman.

"Despite the origins of these salvias I do know one thing.
Unlike other German salvias on the market, Henry Duelberg lives! "

And here's the Rest of the Story. with pictures.

not trying to make anyone feel anything, guilt or otherwise;

just voicing my thoughts.

As I said, I've softened my attitude considerably.

I understand what you're saying sylviatexas1. I wouldn't take something from someone without asking first. Even ditches are part of someone's property and I'd rather look awkward by knocking on that person's door to ask if I could collect a seed or take a cutting. Asking for something never hurt anyone. If someone asked for a cutting from my herbs I wouldn't mind giving one to them.

There are special places and public places where I feel it wouldn't hurt to collect a few seeds from flowers growing there. Not everyone wants to do this or has an interest in it so it's not like we are going to bleed the land dry of seeds.

I actually want to collect the seeds for my garden first and then spread the seeds or plants around other areas. Something like guerrilla gardening for wildlife's sake.

The crinum by the ditch is a good example that others may also enjoy it, and would be saddened to see that one day, it disappeared. Of course, we can't stop someone else from doing it, so it might very well be us who have lost the enjoyment of seeing it.

In my case, I had a recent situation about this, too. A neighbor's brugmansia grows on the outside of his fence, accessible by the sidewalk. Last fall, I had thought to snip off a branch or two and try to root them for my own plants, but I thought how the owner might feel to see his branches snipped off, even if I thought I was careful in making it inconspicuous.

Well, a few weeks ago, I noticed that he had cut it all the way down to the ground. So now I regret not asking or taking a few small cuts. Of course, just because he got rid of it doesn't mean I had any reason to take some for my own, but it's definitely one of those situations where you think how you could have taken a bit of the plant earlier and no "apparent" harm would have been done. But often times, we think there is no harm, except for the fact of sometimes not asking the owner first, who might very well notice and exclaim, "Hey, someone cut my plants!"

Your seeds will be in the mail tomorrow. I also added Columbine seeds. All the seeds I sent to you can be taken apart after they bloom. I learned on U-tube to help with the Coneflower seeds. Next year I will have more green seeds - green flowers. Just keep my info.

I am definitely hesitant about the Crinum Lily because it is the only one I've seen on my drives into town. It's definitely wild because it isn't strategically placed. It grows near a culvert in a ditch just off someone's property. I might shop around for one instead in this case. It looks like this: http://nhg.typepad.com/.a/6a013488d5d086970c01a73d8d4b65970d-pi

I'm going to start with collecting seeds from the wildflowers on my family's property. I'll take some photos today and ask if you all can help me identify them.

Purslanegarden, email me throug Houzz and we will talk about brugs.

Brugs usually get cut back in Fall so that is always a good time for asking the owner if one could snip. The crinum is a BIG dig and I would not do it because it is a big take. Maybe, I would ask the owner by the ditch because he might have planted it even if it is not on his property. Even with his permission, I would only take an outside bulb. Crinums grow deep once established and are hard to get up even with the best of conditions.

Start going to plant swaps. I've gotten more crinums through swaps than ever buying them. There's usually a HUGE swap in the Lake Livingston area every year.

I mailed your seeds in the mail today. :)