Harvesting Holly Hock Seeds

So I learned something this morning.  I learned the best way to harvest Holly Hock Seeds.  In my eager endeavor to save seeds and keep the colors separated, I fubbed up. Most of them are immature and probably will not work for seeds.  Not that I don't have enough, mind you. I do. But I had this grandiose idea that I might try to sell some seeds at a "craft" stand sometime later.

I'll tell you what I did and then what I should have done and what I will do next year.

Though I am glad I tried . . . Because if I hadn't tried, I probably still wouldn't be the wiser about the best way to do this.  In other words, because I tried. I learned. There is beauty in this though . . . There is satisfaction in learning. There is joy in journeys, truly(as we've all heard about:) )  It is not all waste, though it would be nice to have perfect success the first time . . . I'm sure you are wise enough to know that is not usually the case. 😁

All summer as the Hollyhocks began to bloom, I started thinking about next year's flowerbed and gardens. I said in my mind that I wanted to keep track of the different colors.  I should have tagged them, as they started blooming, because I never did . . .  and then I harvested them and even though I got most of the seed's colors saved, I still didn't exactly know which "mother" plant out there is what color. Grr. So much for procrastinating and then being too impetus about bringing them in right away.

So last evening after being excited about harvesting garden things, I eyed my Holly hocks and decided that today's the day to collect seed.  After being in Oregon and knowing that life out there is "all about collecting seed,"  I was eager.  It was almost bedtime when I grabbed a knife and headed out the door with some bags.  The white grocery bag was for the white Holly Hocks, the large black canvas bag for the burgundy/ dark red ones (which we really, really loved this year), the bread bad for the light pink ones, and another bag for the light, creamy peach ones that I was't sure I would keep. But the pale yellow ones, I cut down to throw away as I don't care for those and I didn't want more baby plants of that color.  My dark pink ones still were blooming fairly well at least the one plant I saw.  There are a few I am too late to record the color of.

I brought them in and stashed them on the island, informing the family who were sitting in the living room that these were my Holly Hock Seeds and "Don't mess with them and mix them up!".

This morning, as I considered my stash, realizing that most of these weren't gonna be very useful as seeds, I pulled up info online as to how people harvested seeds from Hollyhocks.  Ok. There ya go. That is a much better way and now I know.  

So what I learned was that I should have taken a brown paper bag (marked with the color) and holding it underneath the dried, ripe, paper-like seedpods used my thumb to run loose the individual black seeds and let them fall into my collecting bag.

I want to also identify my plants somehow with a tag or sting or colored yarn marking the color of the plant. That would be helpful to me as I have needed to know or wished I had in the past, when I have had plant sales.

So, there ya have it.  A better way.

Here's my eagerly collected stash.