Propagation: When to collect zinnia seeds, 1 by Lala_Jane

Lala_Jane wrote:
ZG I've never collected the globe thistle, but zinnias are a snap. You can collect them anytime as long as the seed heads have turned brown from maturity, not from death. LOL. In other words it's OK to wait until after a frost to collect them as long it's not the frost that turned them brown. (I think I just turned something very simple into something very confusing.)

I've been collecting mine for a few weeks now. Instead of dead-heading as soon as the blooms begin to fade I just leave them on the plant an extra week or 2 until they're good and brown and pinch them off then. Tell you what....I've got a plate of them sitting right here. I'll just snap a picture for you.

Here's what they should look like when they're mature.