Well, given that seed has a limited viability (depending on species, storage, etc), it may or may not help in preserving a plant. Also bear in mind that some plants don't come true from seed or are sterile, of course.
I always thought the best insurance is to share it with friends...then reaccquire if you lose it.

^^ I agree with the above. Works in theory but not all that well in practice. If it grows readily from seed and comes true to variety or cultivar, you can easily find seeds for it. But a great many plants - like the geranium Jolly Bee - either do not produce viable seed or do not come true from seed.

Taking divisions or cuttings - asexual propagation - is a much more efficient way of assuring any plant will survive true to form.

I totally agree with both of the above. It is however just so fun and economical to grow from seed. Certain plants such as Amsonia hubrichtii are often difficult to source, perhaps because they do grow so slowly and I have no desire to divide mine now that it is finally mature. On the other hand I like to gather the seeds of a short lived plant such as Rudbeckia hirta. I just enjoy the process of growing from seed, so satisfying!

I cannot imagine saving seed from rudbeckia hirta: mine self seeds to the point of being a nuisance all on its' own LOL. Otherwise I concur with the above comments. ;)

Lol cecily! I think Rudbeckis triloba smothers out my R. hirta seedlings by about 10,000 to 1. I do really like R. t.

If the garden space is available to a person, growing collected seeds will generally provide a certain degree of variance of color and plant habit among the resulting seedlings, a lot of discards as well! From heliopsis 'Loraine Sunshine', I obtained some very fine seedlings superior to the mother plant.

I am not very attentive to any deadheading at the best of times so theoretically I should see a reasonable amount of self seeding from existing perennials. But I don't. Not sure if it is just the compacted nature of my growing season or cool summers but in most cases seed never develops or fully ripens so I seldom see offsprings. Unfortunately, the perennials that do self seed easily in my climate are the ones I would not give garden space - Lychnis coronaria, lunaria, centrathus ruber, hesperis, etc.

I do save seed from certain annuals - breadseed poppies, nasturtiums, cerinthe, etc. Or rather, I just let them do their thing so they act like perennials even if they are not.

ETA: Just noticed the distinctive foliage of Cyclamen hederifolium popping up in the lawn next to a septic lid!! It's a good 30' away from where the mother plant is so a squirrel or insect must have transported the seed. Even though they are on 'springs' or coiled stems, that's a fair distance to be ejected!! The more of these the merrier so I will attempt to transplant.

I collect seeds from some of my favourite plants and share them with friends and members of the garden club to which I belong. There is a lot of trading happening over the winter and that keeps us in touch, so it is a social thing as well as a gardening thing.

BTW, my memory is iffy at times but was it you, yeonassky, who was looking for baptisia on an old post? If so, I have seeds from “Purple Smoke” and I am also on the north side of the border so could easily mail them to you.

Thank you for your answers. I got incredibly busy and did not have time to check back.

Yes I guess I hadn't thought through about how plants may not be true through their seeds. as you say it sounds like cuttings are a better idea in many situations.

I do love the idea of joining some kind of a seed sharing group. Not sure if I'll ever do so as I'm a bit of a recluse. But I love the idea :-)

Yes I was the one who was looking for baptisia but I found it late last season Thank you though so much for your kind offer edenchild. Now if you had the elusive Jolly Bee...and if it were okay to send cuttings... ;).

I am a recluse too, yeonnasky, but sharing seeds can mean nothing more nerve=wracking than joining a plant society. My current one is the Hardy Plant Soc...and I am sure there must be equivalent clubs and societies in your part of the world. Although there are other reasons for paying a (small) annual subscription, for almost all members, the seed distribution list is up at the top of reasons for joining.

I just googled "Hardy Plant Society" and found it! Thanks for mentioning that website Bellflower.

As much as I like the instant gratification of buying plants, I also like to collect seeds from my garden...Purple Bean Hyacinth Vine, Delphinium, Blue Barrow Columbine...found some common Milk Weed that I intend to plant.

And LOL I have dubbed myself "The Happy Recluse"...and yet all of us gardeners are so talkative here...Once I joined the neighborhood garden club but the members didn't really love gardening, and it was more of a social thing they did, and somehow the word Garden was the name of their club.

Anyway I learned a tip on seed collecting from a garden magazine that had a section where real gardeners shared their garden tips.

Some guy said he used those little white plastic mesh bags that garlic comes in at the grocery store...PERFECT for collecting Delphinium seed or Hosta seeds especially because they are long.

And I wanted to mention it allows the seeds to stay on the plant as they mature with plenty of air circulation.

I'm including a photo of the plastic mesh garlic bags below.