Lisa and I chatted and it appears there has been some confusion about what is a seed both on my part and on others.

First the good news - if you got my Scabiosa atropurpurea (originally listed as Knautia) - you DO have what most sites list as the seed (someone thought there should be something different). Just sprinkle your entire packet (there should be more than plenty) on top of the dampened soil in your milk jug, wet it in so some is covered - and put it wherever your wintersow jugs go.

Scabiosa atropurpurea Seed:


And from this site Lisa recommends for Seed pictures. http://theseedsite.co.uk/db50.... . They don't have atropurpurea listed, but it's seed head looks the same as columbaria except that it is a long oval rather than round. Someone thought the seed should look like arvensis. I would not recommend dissecting them. Just use and plant.



Scabiosa: @AudreyDee , @Bluespiral , @bmoore59, @ishareflowers, @janinilulu, @Joolie, @luvsgrtdanes, @maxx2 , @Nickyn, @rockpile1369, @wildflowers - you all have good seed (edited to clarify).

Unfortunately, I'd found a picture for seed for Coreopsis tinctoria when I'd Googled Coreopsis seed image - and was actually knocking the bigger bits out - when I should have found a picture for Coreopsis grandiflora as the seed is very different. (I didn't have this site back then). I have been digging through (luckily I have the Coreopsis seeds + chaff still in yogurt containers) and I will send folks who got my Coreopsis seed more seed. You may have some bits in your envelope that are correct, but not as many as I'd promised. I just need addresses from @luvsgrtdanes and @maxx2 if you don't mind Lisa sharing them with me, I have @shareflowersand @Ladyreneer's addresses and you're the only ones with my Coreopsis. I'm doing the GW SS Swap, so am packing and sending off individual envelopes, not a problem.



This is rather mortifying as I've been seed trading since back in the days of Compuserv and I was on GW when Spike first created it. And (gasp, yes) I'm a Master Gardener who has gone through the months of training classes CA requires (but, I spend more time on invasives and the course only spends one evening on propagation, nothing on seed id - it's not the focus). Plus, my climate is so different than my last home that I'm now growing different plants and their seed isn't always what I expect it to be.

If anyone has any questions, just let me know. I do want you to be pleased with the seed I've shared and happy with the plants they should easily produce. I no longer grow anything challenging - what you have from me should sprout right up.

I had to do a bit of research on my wildflower seeds to insure that I send seed and not chaff.
Thank you for this link:
http://theseedsite.co.uk/db50....

@faerygardener. There is no need for you to send me replacement seeds. I have more than enough to plant already!!!

I don't know why I never shared the seed site before. I believe some did years ago and if I was in doubt I would look there.

I'm glad that you now know what to look for. 😄.

@faerygardener please don't worry about replacing seeds. I misunderstood your post.

@ishareflowers thank you for clarifying.

Same here @Faerygardener no need for you to send me anything. I have way more than I should now

@Wildflowers - the Scabiosa seed doesn't need replenishing as it's correct - someone else thought it was supposed to look different as not all seed in the genus Scabiosa look the same.

Only the folks with Coreopsis is where I looked at the wrong species and messed up (so just four folks). I copied all the Scabiosa atropurpurea receiving folks so if they see something different, they know that particular one they have from me is fine. Hope I don't confuse them.

Thanks Lisa and Ronnie!

Okay, thank you, Maggie, I'm no longer confused.

@faerygardener, no worries, and no need to re-package or look for more seeds for me. I have plenty to occupy my time and space.

That site helped me to identify which part of the dried calendula flower head was seed a while back. had a chuckle when I recently received a carefully stuffed seed bag which was 95% chaff !

@maxx2 . I too get baggies of calendula with no actual seeds!

I posted on Facebook probably a year ago what were the seeds and I cannot for the life of me find it.

I have received commercial packets that have all the chaffe in them as well. I went on an all-out Google hunt because I could never get them to grow. I was lucky to get 2 plants from 25 seeds and I found out why.. I can't find the site that showed actual seed either. Basically what it said was only the small dark colored hooks were actual viable seed. The rest is chafe to protect the seeds.

I'm going to get a pack of mine and post a photo of what is actual a viable seed..

Lisa that is really good to know! Wow I must have tried to grow commercially bought chaff in the past and probably passed out dud seeds of calendula!

Yes, folks who have Calendula from me will have both the chaff and good seeds in their packs. It's why I absolutely hate it if people divvy up seed packets they get. It's ok if they do just start a few and pass the whole rest of the packet on. But had heard some folks split them into multiple smaller packs and if I were to send that few seed out myself, I'd be more careful about the chaff.

Although, Lisa - now we can all be really confused - the seed site you like has a light brown larger Calendula seed as it's good seed pic. http://theseedsite.co.uk/db9.h...

I've always gotten both sizes in commercial seed packs: I'm pretty sure they're all seeds.
Edited to add: BUT now you have me wondering...

Gerber daisy seeds are tricky, too. The commercial seed I got in last year's swap had great germination. The seeds were elongated, but plumper in the middle. The self collected ones had 0% germination. They were long and skinny, with no plumpness in the middle.

My research uncovered that unfertilized flowers make seeds that have nothing in them, and look okay except that they lack plumpness.
They really need hand pollination to get fertile seeds.

In my **limited** experience with Gerbera Daisies (I only grow them every so often), the seeds are what I call "thumbnail" seeds. Each seed has to be individually "thumbnailed" (pressed between my thumbnail and the pad of one of my fingers) before it gets set on the "good" side of the plate. Same thing goes for Berlandiera lyrata, Echinacea, Zinnia, Tithonia rotundifolia, Ptilotus etc., etc.

I can't begin to remember how many times I received nice, fat packs of Rudbeckia maxima with nary a viable seed. (I suspect the birds beat the gardeners to the seeds.) I lucked out in last year's trade and received a packet with **gasp** nine plump seeds that all germinated like they'd been shot out of a cannon

I really appreciate the information about Calendula seeds. They're nice self-sowers here (original plants came from a friend), and I don't recall ever growing them from seed.

Great discussion you all.

@janinilulu, I'm going to try and do a test this year with the calendula seeds.

I wish I could find the site that I found that said only the dark disks in the center were actual seeds. When I only planted the dark discs, I had great germination. I didn't plant the others to test though.

If I push down on most of these lighter colored ones, they just collapse. However, the lighter ones with the "bumps" on them seem to stay intact.

I remember reading something like the outer layer is a protective layer and soft and they were but it did say only he dark ones were viable seeds. Maybe a few of us could do tests

@mrsbinwy, my ligularia and shredded umbrella plant seeds are the same. I get tons of what one would think are seeds but there's no plumpness to them. There duds! Oh, and the stokesia as well. I tried growing them from traded seeds for a couple of years. I bought a pack and low and behold, I had been planting chafe. In the case of the stokesia even the ones that a a little plump don't germinate!

I'd used that website to help w/scabiosa seeds -- luckily not for calendula because I think their photo is wrong. It would make sense for the dark, smaller, skinny squiggly things to be the calendula seed as those are the most protected part.

I would hate to think I tossed out 95pct of the seeds in that packet !!!! If I can find more seed heads w/the chaff I will try planting both separately.

That said --- I just read this discussion (sound familiar?)
https://forum.gardenersworld.c...

and this fellow says/shows the entire dried head = seeds (skip to 2 :30)
http://kitchenhomegardener.in/...

(maybe I tossed too early ... and kept the smaller seeds(I hope) at that )

I dug out a pack of non-commercial Calendula seeds received recently and it DID look like they were all 'shell-like'...so bizarre, but I can't remember ever collecting any where the majority of the seeds weren't 'real' ones. Think I'll do a sow test, too.

@janinililu
Did you notice how soft some of those light ones were when pressed on?

I'm ashamed to admit it, but I've traded dud zinnia & coneflower seeds before I knew to test. Marigold too. I hate to think I cheated someone, and would hope they would tell me so I don't make the same mistake twice. But I also know I got dud zinnia seed last year (not in this swap) and didn't say anything to the other person.