Butterfly weed is one of my favorite plants that I have growing in my garden. Not only does it add amazing color to the garden, the butterflies flock to it. Plus, it’s a host plant for everyone’s favorite monarch butterfly.
Collecting butterfly weed seeds is easy, and doesn’t take much effort – you just need to get the timing right.
So below I’ll show you how to tell when butterfly weed seeds are ready to harvest, how to gather them, and what to do with them after you’re done collecting them.
Harvesting Butterfly Weed Seeds
Butterfly weed is also one of the easiest seeds to collect from the garden. After the flowers fade on the plant, butterfly weed gets these gorgeous seed pods.
Table of Contents
If you want to collect butterfly weed seeds from your garden, allow the seed pods to dry on the plant.
When To Harvest Butterfly Weed Seeds
When the seeds are ready to be harvested, butterfly weed seed pods will turn brown and start to break open on their own.
The seeds have puffs of cotton attached to them, which allows them to fly in the wind and seed themselves all around the neighborhood.
So, make sure you collect the seeds as soon as the pods start to break open, or they may disappear on you.
What Do Butterfly Weed Seeds Look Like
Butterfly weed seeds are flat, brown and shaped like a tear drop – and there are a ton of seeds in each seed pod.
Like I mentioned above, they are attached to white cotton, which can make the task of harvesting butterfly weed seeds a bit more tedious.
How To Harvest Butterfly Weed Seeds Step-By-Step
Clip the seed pods off the plant and drop them into a container or bag. Don’t attempt to harvest butterfly weed seeds outside.
Otherwise every time the wind blows you’ll be chasing them down the street. Once you’ve collected the seed pods, bring them inside.
Like I said, it can be a bit tedious to harvest butterfly weed seeds, because of the fine fluffy stuff that’s attached to the seeds. So start by breaking open the seed pod.
Then firmly grab the entire fuzzy clump and pull it out of the seed pod. Wait, don’t let go.
Gently pinch the seeds to tease them away from the fluffy stuff. It can be a messy job, so you might want to keep the vacuum on hand.
What To Do With Butterfly Weed Seeds After Harvesting
You can plant butterfly weeds seeds as soon as you harvest them, or you can store them for planting next year. Allow the seeds to dry out completely before storing them.
You can store your seeds in a plastic container (film canisters are the perfect size!), paper bag or seed envelope until spring.
To share with friends, you can order customized seed envelopes or try making your own seed envelopes!
I like to use a plastic shoe box to organize my seeds, or you can use a Seed Keeper.
Where To Find Butterfly Weed Seeds For Sale
It can be difficult to find butterfly weed seeds for sale, but many garden centers should carry them starting in mid-winter through early spring.
Otherwise you can always buy butterfly weed seeds online. Here are some great, quality seeds to get you started… Butterfly Weed Seeds.
If you want to learn how to grow your own seeds for your garden indoors, then my Starting Seeds Indoors eBook is perfect for you! It’s a quick-start guide that will have you growing your own seeds indoors in no time. Download your copy now!
More Posts About Saving Seeds
- How To Collect Lavender Seeds From Your Garden
- How to Collect Castor Bean Seeds From The Garden
- How To Harvest Chive Seeds & Save Them
- Collecting and Sowing Spider Plant Seeds
Share your tips for how to harvest butterfly weed seeds in the comments section below.
