How to dry snapdragon seeds

I have the most lovely snaps I grew from seeds last winter...we are going to have our first hard freeze in a couple of days and my snaps aren't yet to seed. Can I cut them, dry them and use the seeds for re planting in my greenhouse again? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I leave mine on the plants Fairywinkle through rain, sleet, hail and snow etc. They dry really nicely regardless of what mother nature throws their way and are ready in November/December.

Snap seeds can take a long time to mature. I leave them on the plant until they open naturally.

Karen

Thanks friends, for the suggestion to wait. We did have a good frost last night but they are shining beautifully today. I will be patient!

The lower pods of mine are starting to open. Should I pluck those off & leave the upper ones, or just wait for them all to dry out?

I usually wait for them all to dry out and then justy shake the plant stem, they will fly out and you've just sowed your spring snaps!

Can't remember. Do snaps WS or reseed in colder zones?

Not sure what you mean by "colder zones". They sometimes reseed for me in my zone 6 yard. Sometimes they winter over, too, but not reliably. I leave them in the ground and hope for the best.

Karen

Thanks. That's good to know since I am also in 6a. Just didn't know if I could expect any self-seeding snaps like 2ndChance in Zone 9b.

The wind, birds, and critters must do a good job of spreading the seeds, too, because I have volunteers pop up at far away and unlikely places. Or, you can deliberately toss them where you want them like 2nd chance does.

They wintersow well and germinate early. This is a clump of my Black Prince in June, the taller ones in back 2nd year and the shorter ones 1st year.

Karen

The seeds are tiny, easily blown around, that's why I shake them where they were, to control them in one area.

I usually leave my seed pods alone to dry, then share them with friends. I have one huge plant that has been around for years. The root was so long and big, almost looked like a carrot. I noticed it was almost on top of the soil so I tucked it in and added more soil. It wasn't happy, so I lifted it a little back to where it was and watered it more and it is blooming again.

Snaps rarely self sow for me in my zone. I have managed to winter over plants by burying them in compost though.

Do you guys have luck with the seeds coming "true" to the parent plant? This was my 1st year for growing them. I had several varieties from swaps but I don't think any came out what they were labeled. In fact I have some clumps that have 2 different color plants from the same seeds. I'm not complaining because I have about any color I could want - whites, yellows, reds, pinks, peaches.... I just wondered if I should even bother to try to separate the colors.

Don't try to separate, you'll just end up in the rubber room. They will hybridize naturally, especially if a red is next to a yellow - you get bronze next year.

This message was edited Oct 6, 2008 11:32 PM

That's great! So I should have even more variety next year.

Ditto to 2ndchance. The only thing that will drive you battier is trying to isolate specific petunia colours. I refer to these colour wonky types of seeds as 'total bees' in my notes.