Summer Wildflower Seeds

Hello! After the nice rain we got yesterday things are looking a little bit greener! My native plant garden has tons of blooms from Rudbeckia, Gaillardia, Tradescantia, Salvia, Vernonia, Malvaciscus, Helenium, and Helianthus. A lot of flowers are also starting to set seed. I spent some time this morning dead-heading some of the flowers and collecting seeds to store and share with friends. Here's what has seeds now:

Echinacea sanguinea - Sanguin Coneflower, this plant is doing very well in the intense heat and drought conditions. It is a must grow if you live in Houston or East Texas, to which it is native.

Helianthus annuus - Common Sunflower, The seeds that I planted last winter are now huge 12 feet tall plants with lots of blooms. I collected some seeds but will leave many for the birds to eat this fall and winter. Im sure the Goldfinches will love them when they return this winter.

Gaillardia pulchella - Indian Blanket, I think this plant never stops blooming... it continuously makes flower and lots of seeds. The seed heads are spiky so use gloves when collecting seeds.

Ratibida columnifera - Mexican Hat, the seeds are ripe and already falling off.

Rudbeckia maxima - Giant Coneflower, The seeds are almost ready.

Coreopsis lanceolata, Lanceleaf Tickseed - I collected lots of seeds from these plants today.

Here are some of the collected seeds. The top is Coreopsis lanceolata, right is Helianthus annuus, and bottom is Gaillardia pulchella. Im going to let them dry a little more before cleaning them and storing the seeds in paper envelopes.