A neighbor has some of these spider flowers and they come up every year I guess from spreading seeds. I purchased two of them as plants last year and when the seed pods appeared in fall I scattered them in the soil, planting some on the surface and some 1/2" deep and some 1" deep. Nothing came up this spring.
Someone at a flower shop told me I have to purchase perennial cleomes and all of the advertising I find says "grows yearly as annual". Climate cannot be an issue here because our homes are right next to each other.
Any feedback? Are there both annual and perennial cleomes or no?

Cleome is a grown as an annual. The seeds must be cold stratified (something that happens naturally if you sow the seed outside in fall). The seed needs light to germinate so don't cover it at all. If you have bird feeders, the birds might have helped you out by cleaning up ALL the scattered seed for you. That's what happens in my yard.

Hi & welcome! Since Cleome pods use explosive dehiscence to disburse their seeds when ripe, (the pods suddenly pop open, flinging seeds), I'm wondering if you were maybe a little anxious and cut the pods off too soon? Otherwise, are you able to see any differences between the area where your seeds were scattered vs. where they sprouted in the neighbor's yard?

Before the seed pods burst, they split open, and can be harvested at that time. If the pods you got weren't split, they might not have been mature seeds. They can be planted in the spring by taking seeds and placing them on damp paper towels, then sliding the paper towels into a zip lock bag and placing in the fridge. After two to three weeks, plant them outside. Just press into the soil, don't cover.

That's a good point. If the seedpods didn't pop on their own, the seeds may not have been mature enough. If you wrap your hand around a pod and it pops in your hand, it ready. If it doesn't, come back tomorrow.

I popped the seeds out of the pods at the end of the summer/early fall and planted them in the ground as I described above. Maybe I did spread them too soon. Should I take the pods off when they dry out and store the seeds to do the procedure mentioned by garden fish. If so, how do I store them for the winter?? Or should I just store them in the pods? I have ordered seeds to start that say they will reseed and regrown in 10 and 11. Also, where I spread the seeds was in direct sun and where my neighbors reseed every year they are in very filtered sun? More input please if you have…and thanks.

If YOU popped the seeds out, they were picked too soon. The plant does the popping without assistance. You can't store them in the pod because ripe seeds don't stay in the pod.

Direct sun was ok but the seeds must stay damp. They will not germinate without light. You can store the seeds for winter but you would have to cold stratify them before planting.

When I harvested my pods they were split wide open. In the process of harvesting the seeds, some fell to the soil and produced 9 seedlings which came up this spring. If you want to plant the seeds directly, as Daisy suggests they will need to be cold stratified.

Because the plants are so big and my space is so small, I only kept 2 seedlings and gave the rest away. This pic is from today.

Should you dead head throughout the summer for more blooms?

Well, I didn't do that last year. Each plant sends out side shoots with blooms on them. They're doing that this year. And the blooms keep adding new blooms at the top. The older blooms at the bottom of the stalk produce the seed pods.