Everyday, when I walk my yard, there are new seed pods showing up.
I am either bagging the pods with small tulle bags, or collecting the seeds before they disperse.
If you do not need the seeds for your own garden-there are always swaps, community gardens, and other people who could use a donation of seeds. It is by collecting seeds from our yards that some old varieties will be continued.
Variety of seeds is narrowing in Canada as several brands have been collapsed into one.
There are only a few on line seed companies here.

I agree! There are lots of "lending seed libraries" popping up. The links in my signature block don't have very good lists any more, but here is one:
http://seedlibrarymap.com/

And you can frequently trade saved seeds here at NGA.
(The blue, far-left menu bar option "Seed Swaps" takes you here:
http://garden.org/apps/swap//
and someone I know is running another swap (international, "all seeds" (Trading Begins: September 3)
http://garden.org/apps/swap/vi...
and here's an "in-person swap": Mid-Atlantic swap (Trading Begins: August 20, 2016): in Silver Spring, MD.
http://garden.org/apps/swap/vi...

I guess it's an individual thing whether you would rather trade seeds (and get back a rich variety), or give them away and just feel generous (after the plants did the hard part!)

If you don't know the exact name or any name, a photo plus description are probably more use to many people anyway.
Or post a photo to our "Plant ID" forum and get the common and Latin names.

Here is a great, short, somewhat technical PDF about collecting and saving seeds and storing them for long periods:
http://www.kew.org/sites/defau...

Here's a longer one, 37 half-pages, practical rather than technical, oriented towards crops rather than flowers, that explains which crops are easy to save from, or a little less easy, and how.
http://www.seedambassadors.org...

They can be printed double-sided and then folded into 8.5" X 5.5" pamphlets.

Save seeds! Protect bio-diversity!

New to this. I (very mistakenly) thought I would somehow 'remember' what seeds were in what container. When my husband politely asked what happened to all the coffee cups in the house (and I was likewise looking for those small food containers), I decided they were likely dried out enough to bag up. Lo and behold, I have many mystery seeds that I can't decide whether I should save and grow blindly or just toss... Lesson learned - ALWAYS label whatever container I use for gathering.

I can't tell you how many times I've done that.

Karen

Been there , done that.

Now I write labels before going out to collect seeds.

Or, (my handwriting is bad), sometimes I print out a whole page of "one-sie" labels so I can cut out a LEGIBLE label.

I do a couple of things. I bought a bag of 50 brown paper lunch bags at the dollar store. I can put the seed pods in there as I collect and write the name on as I collect(can be reused a few times just cross off old words). The bags also help for those seeds that explode out of a ripe pod. Then If for some reason I want them drying in more open air I put them in a dish on the counter, I do put a slip of paper in each dish with the name on it. But generally I would not be collecting seeds that are dripping wet, the bags easily let moisture out. I had to learn that lesson too...

I agree, collecting seeds in the Pacific NorthWet can be tricky.

When I have soggy flower-heads, I'll wrap a piece of paper towel around them to catch loose seeds, then press the bundle between cotton toweling. Press, wait, open, move the bundle to a dry spot , press again. Repeat.

Then fluff it up and give it air circulation while it dries the rest of the way.

Bags probably are better than bowls. I might try that.

BTW, when I'm collecting seeds from something big that might drop them, I use a big cardboard box with a garbage bag inside it (I don't like seeds to get trapped between the "flaps" on the bottom of a cardboard box). I get the box as close to the base of the plant as I can, then lean the flower spikes over the box so that most "escapees" will fall into the box. . Then I cut the spikes one by one and drop them into the box.