Saving Dahlia and Zinnia Seeds for Next Season
Hello friends,
Over late summer and early autumn, I spent many happy hours collecting seeds from the dahlias in my garden, and from the Floret zinnia varieties growing in my zinnia patch.
This year, my focus was on saving seeds from as many collarette and anemone dahlias as possible, along with seeds from some of my favourite seedling dahlias from this season. There's always something hopeful about saving dahlia seeds. Unlike tubers, the seedlings won't grow true to their parents, and that's part of the magic. Every seed has the potential to produce something completely new, making each growing season full of anticipation and surprises.
The process of saving dahlia seeds takes a little time and patience. Once a flower has finished and the petals have fallen, the waiting begins. Not every flower produces a good seed head, so I watch carefully for those that develop into plump, full seed heads.
Once I find one, I mark it with a piece of flagging tape and leave it on the plant to mature. Depending on the weather, this can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a month. As the seed head ripens, it gradually turns a mid to dark brown colour, becomes dry and crunchy to the touch, and the outer sepals begin to pull back, revealing the inner parts of the seed head.
At this stage, I remove the seed heads from the dahlia plant and place them in an open container labelled with the variety name. I then gently break up the seed heads by hand to increase the airflow around the seeds. As the seed head falls apart, the dahlia seeds begin to separate from the chaff, and I leave everything together in the container to dry for a couple of weeks.
Once the seed heads are completely dry, it's time to separate the dahlia seeds from the chaff. Fortunately, the chaff is both larger and lighter than the seeds, which makes the job a little easier.
There are a number of ways to do this. One method is simply to shake the container, allowing the heavier seeds to settle to the bottom while the chaff sits on top. Another option is to winnow the crushed seed heads on a windy day, or in front of a fan. The heavier seeds drop into a waiting container, while the lighter chaff blows away. A third method is to use a soil sieve, which screens out the larger pieces of chaff while allowing the seeds to fall through.
Most of the time I use the first method, as I've found that viable dahlia seeds can sometimes remain attached to the chaff. If I wasn't paying attention, it would be all too easy to throw away perfectly good seeds.
Before I begin, I make sure the seed heads are crushed up as much as possible. I then gently shake the container from side to side, allowing the heavier seeds to settle to the bottom while the chaff rises to the top. As I remove the chaff, I quickly check it for any viable seeds that are still attached and carefully pry them off by hand.
It takes a little extra time, but I'd rather spend a few extra minutes cleaning the seeds than accidentally lose some future potential favourite dahlia varieties.
Once all of this is done, I pop the dahlia seeds into labelled paper seed envelopes. I like to include the dahlia variety, the flower type, whether the seed was open or closed pollinated, the pollen parent (if I know it), and the date the seed was collected.
With everything labelled and safely stored away, the seeds are tucked away until spring, when the whole process begins again. One of the things I love most about growing dahlias from seed is that each seed holds the possibility of something completely new, and I can't help but wonder what surprises next season will bring.
My approach with the Floret zinnias in my zinnia patch (Precious Metals, Unicorn and Blush) was a little different. Rather than selecting individual plants, my aim was simply to collect as many viable seeds as possible from across the patch.
Because Floret zinnia seeds were only available in New Zealand for one season in 2024, I have no way of purchasing more seed. If I want these beautiful varieties to remain part of my summer garden, seed saving is really my only option.
Thankfully, zinnias are generous plants, and with a little effort I hope to carry these favourites forward for many summers to come.
Last spring, I sowed all of the remaining Floret zinnia seeds I had in storage and grew them on through the season. By late January the first flowers were appearing, and I began saving seed in February.
Fortunately, many of the plants set seed well, and before long I had collected trays of mature brown seed heads. Then, in April, just before our first decent frost, I harvested as many flower heads that had begun setting seed as possible, hoping that some of them would continue to mature and provide a few extra seeds as well.
With Floret zinnias no longer available, I was keen to make the most of every opportunity to save seed and carry these beautiful varieties forward into future summers.
The process for collecting zinnia seeds is pretty much the same as with the dahlia seeds. I allow the seed heads to dry out completely before gently crushing them by hand. The seeds naturally fall to the bottom, and I use the same shaking method to separate them from the chaff.
One of the interesting things about zinnias is that they produce two different types of seeds. Seeds from the ray flowers are larger and rounder in shape, while the seeds from the disk flowers are much smaller and narrower. Some growers believe that the larger ray flower seeds are self-pollinated, while the smaller disk flower seeds are more open-pollinated, producing different flowers in the next generation. I haven't found any definitive evidence for this, though.
As I've collected both seed types, it would be easy enough to grow them separately and see what happens. Perhaps that's a future Crafty Gardener project waiting to happen...but that's a story for another growing season.
Overall, I managed to harvest over half a margarine container full of Floret zinnia seeds. They are now safely stored away, waiting patiently for spring and another season in the garden.
Both dahlia and zinnia seed saving have taken up a lot of my time throughout autumn and now into early winter, but I have many seed packets safely stored away ready for sowing in spring.
Winter has arrived, and although it is often thought of as a quieter time in the garden, I know there is still much to do. There is tidying and weeding to tackle, dahlia tubers to dig up, and a new back garden project waiting in the wings.
This will be my last blog post for the next fortnight. My husband and I have a medieval-themed wedding to attend (which means we finally get to wear our new cloaks!), and afterwards we're taking a short holiday to relax after a busy growing season.
So, until then, I'll wish you all a happy winter solstice. I'll see you again in July, at the beginning of a new gardening year, and the start of another season of stories.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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Sewing Two Overland Cloaks For A Wedding
Hello friends,
In June this year our nephew is getting married, and him and his wonderful fiance are having a Medieval/Renaissance Faire themed wedding. Since they encouraged everyone to dress up in Medieval/Renaissance Faire inspired outfits for the event, it was time for me to pull out my sewing machine and get to work.
Now was the chance for me to finally make a medieval winter cloak of my dreams, which I've wished to own for a very long time. After a lot of searching on the internet, and asking some knowledgeable friends online, my friend Karyn suggested the Overland Cloak by Twig + Tale pattern, which is a "luxurious hooded cloak designed for hiking and adventure, with a generous dash of dreaminess". When I bought the Overland Cloak pattern, and showed it to my husband, he got very excited and wanted a cloak of his own, and so it was now up to me to now make two cloaks for the upcoming wedding...
As this wedding is happening in the middle winter, in a community hall, which more than likely is going to be a little chilly, I thought it best to make cloaks with some heft, so we could would stay warm and toasty on the wedding day and into the evening festivities.
First up was finding the fabric needed for the project. I needed 5 metres of outer fabric for each cloak, and the same for lining. From Spotlight we picked up two satin linings in midnight blue and gold. For the outer cloak fabric, the pattern suggested fabrics including wool coating, linen, cashmere and twill. I went hunting in our local secondhand stores to see if I could find any fabric treasures, and came across a steal, 10 metres of vintage gold velvet fabric for $80. This fabric came home with me to be used for my cloak.
For hubby's cloak, I couldn't find any more appropriate secondhand fabric which would work for him, so I ordered some black 100% pure wool coating from the The Fabric Shop in Auckland. When the fabric arrived I was so pleased with it, it wasn't too thick, but it was warm and very good quality. The only bad thing about the fabric is that it was so warm and cosy that Rosie cat became enamored with it and wanted to snuggle with it, and so the fabric quickly became covered with her cat fur...
With all that done it was time to cut out the fabric and then start sewing. I sewed my cloak first, and to be honest the vintage gold velvet was horrible to sew. Even with a Brother Walking Foot the velvet fabric shifted and bunched while sewing, and it took me a long time to make this cloak because it was so difficult, and I was getting very frustrated with it. I eventually finished it, but the cloak has lots of small flaws which are thankfully mostly hidden inside the linings.
On the other hand, hubby's cloak was a dream to sew, and the outer pure wool coating fabric was boiled and felted, which meant I could skip the overlocking steps since the fabric didn't fray at all. I managed to finish hubby's cloak in about a week with Rosie cat's help.
Hubby's cloak look's amazing on him in his favorite colours of black and midnight blue. It sits really great on his shoulders (size 5 pattern), and is the perfect length for all your Medieval/Ren Faire, and Lord of The Rings needs. He chose silver buttons which we got from Spotlight. As you can see from all the photos hubby's cloak is covered in Rosie Cat fur, because she just won't leave it alone.
My cloak looks amazing in shades of gold velvet and satin, along with gold buttons which I also chose from Spotlight. My cloak was sewn in a size 4, which was based on my shoulder width. Due to the incredible difficulty in sewing the cloak, I was unable to insert buttonholes into the velvet fabric, because the buttonhole foot on my sewing machine kept slipping while trying to make the buttonhole. Instead I had to sew on snap fasteners under the top section, and then just sew buttons on top to look like they had buttonholes.
Hubby and I both chose the oversized hood for the Overland Cloak, but they ended up being huge on us, so much so that it completely covered my face if I wore it. I think next time I make an Overland Cloak, I'll choose the smaller rounded hood available.
All in all I'm very pleased with both of the Overland Cloaks that I've made for the wedding. And I certainly now have the Medieval cloak of my dreams. But I am already planning on making another cloak, this time in pure wool coating in shades of purple like hubby's one, with silver buttons, and a smaller rounded hood. And I already have all the fabric and buttons that I need, I just need to find the time and energy to make it...
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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My Favorite Dahlia Varieties Of This Past Summer
Hello friends,
Today I thought I'd share with you my ten favorite named dahlia varieties of the 2025/2026 growing season. This list is in no particular order, but no doubt you'll probably see a pattern emerging...
First up we have the Polka variety, which is an anemone dahlia with white and cranberry outer leaves, and golden fluffy inner leaves. Honesty, she is probably my new favorite dahlia of all time. Her colouring is just so unusual and happy, that she'll always have a space in my garden.
Number two is my second favorite new dahlia variety of all time, Bumble Rumble, a collarette dahlia with bright pink and white and gold flowers. She's a stunner in the garden with her frilly petals, and the bumble bees do indeed rumble over her all summer long.
Dahlia variety number three is Misses Amy, another anemone dahlia, with cranberry and light pink colouring. She has a huge pincushion top which makes her another favorite of bees and butterflies in our garden.
The next variety, Mambo, is another stunning anemone dahlia in my garden. She has magenta and red and peachy toned flowers, and her inner anemone petals are very unusual, as they lie flat with serrated gold tips.
Dahlia variety number five is Dream Seeker, a collarette dahlia bred by Dr Keith Hammett in New Zealand. This bright orange dahlia also attracts bees and butterflies all summer long, and her florescent colouring brightens our front garden for months and months over summer and autumn.
Cafe Au Lait Rosé is the only dinner plate dahlia to make it into to my favorite dahlia list for the 2025/2026 season. Her flowers are huge, and the deep magenta flower petals are stunning against the green backdrop of the garden. If I were to only keep one dinner plate dahlia CAL Rosé would be the one.
Princess Nadine is another eye catching collarette dahlia I love, and her cranberry shades fading to golden yellow petals are just so pretty. She's probably my third favorite dahlia overall in the garden.
Sweet Sanne is one of the two decorative dahlias which made it onto my favorite dahlias list. Her ombré dark peach colouring is gorgeous against her dark green leaves.
Joal Kaitlyn, is another decorative dahlia which made it onto the list. She was an expensive buy for me, but she is completely worth it in my opinion. Her smoky peach/apricot colouring is just so unusual that she stands out in my front garden. This was hubby's favorite dahlia last season, and that's a big thing for him since he doesn't really care that much about plants.
And finally we have Zahra, a creamy white anemone dahlia. Her poofy flowers may be small, but they stand out against all the other brighter dahlias in the garden. She reminds me a lot of the double white daffodil varieties flowering in my garden each spring.
As you will have probably noticed by now, this list is mainly made up of anemone and collarette dahlia varieties. As the years go on, I seem to be attracted more and more to these fluffy and bright and unusual dahlia varieties.
Already in this coming year, the only dahlias I've bought in pre-sales are collarette and anemone varieties. And I've already made some space for them in the garden by digging out some dahlia varieties which no longer interest me...
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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Knitting Socks for Mother's Day
Hello friends,
I've recently finished knitting another pair of socks, this time not for me, but for my mum's Mother's Day present. She, like myself, is blessed with having Raynaud's Syndrome, which means that our hands and feet easily go cold and numb in winter, and our skin turns a pale white colour as blood drains away from those areas of the body.
One of the best ways to help combat this is to keep our hands and feet as warm as possible by wearing cosy merino socks and gloves. As of yet I hadn't knitted my mother any socks, so I thought it would be a nice present to give to her for Mother's Day.
The yarn I chose was Country Wide 4 ply merino sock yarn in the shade 452, which is in bright pink, orange, blue and green colours. The pattern I used was the fingering weight Rye pattern by Tin Can Knits. Luckily my mum and I share the same sock size, so I didn't need to measure her feet to get the sizing right.
It only took a couple of weeks to knit up the socks. It was a bit tricky to try and get the colour repeats lined up, but I did the best I could given the time crunch.
The knitting was quite straight forward, even though the yarn was shedding fluffy bits as I knit the socks. Because of this fibre shedding I won't be buying this sock yarn again, as it means the socks will probably fall apart faster as they are worn.
All in all it was a very quick knitting project, and I'm quite pleased with the results. My mum has already enjoyed their toasty warmth, after she received them on Mother's Day, and she's very grateful to have them now over the coming winter months.
Have a wonderful day
Julie-Ann
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