When do I collect

Canterbury Bells (Campanula medium) seed. My heads are brown and dry but can not find the seed in them. Any ideas?
thanks Pam

Hi, Pam. As I recall the seed heads are ripe when they start to make little holes along the side. If so, you should be able to cut off the ripe heads and shake out the seeds. If seeds are forthcoming, you can crush them and sift out the seeds with a strainer. As I recall, they are about the color of the pod, small, and flattish.

OK, thanks. I will look again in the morning.

This message was edited Aug 22, 2005 8:56 PM

Thanks to Weezingreens for the comment above. I was looking at mine a couple of days ago thinking that I should have seed soon and trying get get the right balance between deadheading for more bloom and allowing seed to ripen. If I can actually collect some of the seed I might not have these coming up all over the place and I still haven't reliably learned not to weed them out in the first year. LOL

Ann

Yes, Campanula medium, Canterbury Bells, is a biennial, so you have to allow them to do a bit of reseeding, or you won't have them anymore. They'll grow the first year, bloom the second, throw seed, then die. It takes a couple years or more to get the cycle going so that you don't have a year without any blooms.