Sunday, November 4, 2012

How To Collect Butterfly Bush Seed

Butterfly Bush Buddleja is a large arching perrenial shrub which blooms fragrant flowers from midsummer to fall.
 
 
To collect seed to grow your own butterfly bushes, you have to wait till September then you will see green seed pods beginning to form
 
 
A couple of weeks later they will start getting a red tip as they begin to ripen
 
 
A couple more weeks and the red will turn to brown throughout the seed pod and start to become woody
 
 
A couple more weeks after that the seed pods will be totally woody and begin to pop open, this is when the seed is ready to be harvested.
 

 
Now the seed are very small and really hard to separate from the chaff but I have found a great way of doing this with a hand held strainer like this one
 
 
All you do is break the seed pods apart add into this quarter of a cup strainer and gently tap on the side while positioning the strainer over a paper plate and out falls the butterfly bush seed 90 % chaff free
 
 
Now here is a close up of what a butterfly bush seed looks like (courtesy of Brenda Reynolds)
 
 
 You can actually see the orangish brown seed in this magnified photo :)
 
 
If your on facebook and want to trade seeds join us at Seed Traders
 
 



15 comments:

  1. THANKS TOMMY! YOU ARE EVER THE GARDEN HELPER TO MANY!

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  2. Great blog and pictures! Are they called butterfly bushes because they attract them? Now that fall is almost over and winter is coming what do you do gardening wise? Just curious. Is is a sad time for me living in New England, I wish I could garden outside year round! Very informative, thanks!

    KaBloom offers exceptional service and is just a click away! Take a look at flower delivery service Las Vegas NV and see for yourself!

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  3. Beth I wintersow in the winter time to keep the winter blues away and make the winter's pass by quickly here check this site out if you would like to learn more http://www.wintersown.org/ and if your on Facebook join us at SeedTraders where we are trading seed all winter long :)http://www.facebook.com/groups/103053019817358/

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  4. I get an error message when I click on your link.

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  5. I get an error message when I click on your link.

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  6. I get an error message when I click on your link.seed Traders.

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  7. I get an error message when I click on your link.seed Traders.

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  8. Thank you.

    Such a simple step-by-step guide, even I can hopefully mutiply my Buddleias next year.

    You're a cool dude!

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  9. Do you cut the dried flowers off so it will get more blooms?

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  10. When can you try growing the butterfly bush seeds? It’s November here in CT. Can I plant
    Indoors right away or do I need to season them?

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  11. Thank you!!! Harvesting soon then!!

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  12. Great explanation, I was looking for this!

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  13. Thanks for the explanation and the pictures. That was helpful

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  14. Can I winter sow these on the ground?

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