#11 Allow some flowers to produce seed. Collect and save seed, let the rest self sow freely.
A Manifesto for Growing Cut Flowers
Manifesto
#11 Allow some flowers to produce seed. Collect and save seed, let the rest self sow freely.
Picking up on my manifesto for growing cut flowers, this last few months, there has been so much rain that I haven’t had to water at all, despite there being some days with no rain.
If you are new to my manifesto, there are other posts in the series -
Since writing making this set of rules, I have changed my soil and mulch practise. The manifesto needs revising and #6 editing. Funny what happens when you commit to a list but that’s growing innit?
Today is #11 Allow some flowers to produce seed. Collect and save seed, let the rest self sow freely.
Saving seed is not just a thrifty way to garden. It is an act of resistance. Furthermore, one of the fundamentals of growing a resilient garden. This item on the manifesto could be the most important one.
There are three parts to this one.
Allow some flowers to produce seed.
Collect and save seed.
Let the rest self sow freely.
Why would you only let some plants produce seed? Why is it so good to collect your own seed? and why self sown plants will be bigger and stronger.
1. Allow some flowers to produce seed.
The some is the crucial bit here. When flowers begin to flower, the last thing you want to do it allow any to go to seed. Why? Because that is the plants raison d’être. To produce seed and secure its offspring. Think like a flower, and why cutting flowers for arranging prolongs flowering in come and cut again plants. Once a plant produces seed, the flowering slows. So to begin with, cut all your flowers, and definitely snip off any deadheads.
Then, once the plant has naturally slowed in flowering, leave those buds and allow them to ripen, producing seed. Right now, this is what I am doing with sweet peas.
2. Collect and save seed.
Why would you collect seed?
It is estimated that about 90% of crops have been lost and globally, seed supply is in the hands of very few global companies. Independent seed sellers are few and far between. For annual and biennial plants, without collected seed, we simply can’t sow them. Perhaps, like me, you might be thinking ‘someone else will save the seed’ ‘it’s ok, they won’t actually run out’ but that kind of thinking is how we got into this problem. Most rancunulus corms in the UK come from one supplier. This reliance on one supplier does nothing to develop plants resistance. One poor harvest or a fungal disease would wipe out the current and future crops. They aren’t organically grown, who knows what sprays are used, how they affect our pollinators and wildlife.
These are questions to consider. Like a mother can be carrying the beginings (if a daughter) of her grandchildren. You were a tiny egg in your grandmothers womb! Likewise, the calendulas, foxgloves and cornflowers growing and blooming right now have their offspring swelling and maturing.
Plants matured in your gardens’ particular soil and your particular micro climate, will produce seeds uniquely primed to thrive in the same soil and climate. Those seeds will retain that information and strength, adapting to their specific conditions. Helping plants develop their own biological resistance to pests and diseases.
