Collecting your own seeds: Columbines

A little while back I promised I'd tell you how to collect and save your own seeds (in the process hopefully saving you a little bit of money). A lot of what follows is good for many plants, but I'll be adding other "modules" as I go along.

Today, I'll do just that, for Columbines. The following holds true for wild and "domestic" ones.

Word of warning. Columbine seed pods are sticky. Plain and simple. So if like me you're going to harvest a whole pile of them, wear gloves, or be prepared to wash and wash and wash your hands. Thou has been warned!

1. You need a plant. ;)




2. After the plant has flowered, you have 2 choices. Either dead head it (remove the spent flower), or let it go to seed. Normally, you dead head them during the summer, and around the middle-end of August you let them go to seed (if you want seeds for the next season).

The problem with Columbines is, some vary quite a bit as to when they flower. So what I do in that case is let 1 or 2 stalks go to seed, and dead head the rest.

I've included a picture that has all 3 "phases", the flower, the newly formed seed head, and the maturing seed head. There is also a picture of a ready to harvest seed head (more below).

On left, a newly formed seed pod, middle - a maturing pod, and right a flower about to open fully.

While your seed head is maturing, you must keep watering the plant and caring for it. This is especially true if you want good strong seeds. BUT, with columbines, they pretty much take care of themselves.. (I really love plants like that).

Be careful NOT to pick the seed heads too early. The seeds inside will be white, and immature, and if memory serves will not grow.

The pic above shows the pod opening, but its still green. The seeds should be viable, but as you'll see, I had a few white unusable ones.


On left, a maturing seed pod. On right, ripe for the pickin'!










3. Keep close watch on your seed heads. Some people put paper bags around them, I just let them ripen naturally. You'll know they are ready when they look like this: (browning/brownish and opening up).

If you don't pick them, they will "sprinkle" around the mother plant, and next year, you'll have more columbines in the area. Useful if you are naturalizing an area...

Let it be, and it'll self-seed itself and you'll have a lot of babies :)

4. Take a large margarine container (or any wide mouth container), and place it under the seed head. Either pull the head up and off the plant, enclosing it in your hand to prevent seeds from flying everywhere. You can also bend the seed head to the container and tap it so the seeds come out. Another way is to use scissors, and snip the heads and temporarily place them in the container (gets your scissors sticky tho). I use the pull method. The head should come off easily, (then you know its really ready).

Place the removed head upside down (with open end facing down and stem facing up) and roll the head between your fingers like you would say a cigarette (or whatever). Do this GENTLY! no squishing, cramming or damaging the seeds! they will loosen and fall into the container. Discard empty seed head. You will be left with nice shiny black seeds. (Columbine seeds are easy to recognize because of this) very glossy, not really oily.


Black shiny glossy columbine seeds! the white ones I will throw out. There was about 10-12 more seeds not shown here. This is from the opened seed pod above! So gives you an idea of how many seeds you can expect. As far as I know, the seeds are not poisonous. (but please don't go and eat them just to prove me wrong...)

Now, if you see white seeds, amongst your nice shiny black seeds, don't panic. Pick them out, and discard them. They are immature and will not grow.

5. You now have 3 choices.

a) sprinkle them where you want more columbines, yes, right now. The cold of the coming winter will activate them, and in the spring, you'll have babies!

b) store the seeds in a brown PAPER bag (very important!) with either a small handful of rice, OR desiccant (the little envelopes you get in shoes and whatnot). If you don't have any (use the rice or) leave it as is. Either way, label the bag with a permanent marker, date, color, plant and store the bag in a cool dark place. Every once in a while, go and give the bag a gentle shake to move them around as they finish drying. Sprinkle the seeds in the fall or if you are planting in the spring follow directions at 5a. If you are picky like me, you'll tape a pic of the plant in bloom on the bag so you know exactly which one you are sowing. (and no I'm not Martha) lol!

c) Share with neighbors after the seeds are properly dried :) always a good idea. Maybe they'll share back... and you can send me some (just kidding lol!)

5a. If you are going to sow the seeds in the spring, they need to be activated by cold first. (according to the "experts"). You can take the bag and stuff it in the freezer for 2-3 days, or in the fridge. I never found it made much of a difference really. Then sow away.

6. To sow the seeds, I just work the ground lightly, sprinkle (actually I blow or "sneeze" on them and they go wherever they want - more natural look) and lightly sprinkle earth on them.

and the cycle begins anew. The new plants might well flower the first year. Give it a try. I'd love to hear how it worked out for you!


Points to remember:

Columbines cross-breed. If you have a blue one here and a red one there, and the pollen intermixes, then you'll end up with another color. Sometimes they look washed out, but hey. And this is often done by bees and birds...

I had about 60 different cultivars in Ottawa, and when it came time to collect the seeds, I'd take a deep breath, and take a good look at my clean hands. Then, I'd grab a big container and go picking. I've tried picking the pods green, and they always did less better than the brown ones. (my hands would be black and sticky by the time I was done, but then I had a TON of seeds to pick...)

If you have a pod that has both green and brown on it, give it a few days to mature, (this is where the paper bag around the seed head I guess comes in handy - I've never bothered). Remember too, if any seeds fall on the ground, chances are, the little critters (birds, bugs, chipmunks) will find and eat them, so don't worry too much!

Remember, lastly, that sometimes things will not work, and like me, you'll mess up (ok maybe YOU won't but...). It happens. These plants are probably one of the easiest to start with, and they give out TONS of seeds! So have fun, and be gentle on the plant, and yourself!

Remember to let me know how it went! :)

Cheers Cynthia