Mesa Seed & StartCollecting seed without taking too much
Our rule is one plant in ten, and never more than a fifth of the seed on that plant. For annuals in a poor year we skip the patch entirely.
Brittlebush is ready when the heads shatter in your hand. Penstemon capsules should rattle. Milkweed pods are picked the day the seam shows a hairline split, then closed with a rubber band so the floss does not carry everything off the porch.
Every bag gets a paper slip with the date and the wash or roadside it came from. Seed from a north slope at 2,400 feet and seed from a valley floor are the same species on paper and different plants in a garden.