August 1st-7th
There is a special thrill in sowing a seed and watching it grow into a full-size, adult plant. You can carry this excitement a step further by saving seed from the plants in your own garden to sow next spring. When you are deadheading, leave a few healthy-looking flowers to form seed. On some early-flowering plants, seed pods and capsules have already matured to a dry, brown state. Collect these now, preferably on a dry, sunny day and store in a dry place indoors, in paper bags or brown envelopes. In the winter, the bonedry seeds can be separated from the chaff and stored in plastic bags in a cool, dry place. Note that some plants, including F1 hybrids and fancy cultivars, do not come true from seed.