Cool nights, rainy days and no frost in sight has got my flowers making a late season push. Even though we are officially in fall now there is still some growing season left.

The leaves are starting to turn, burning bushes are getting their famed flame red color and mums are starting to pop, but the impatiens, petunias and marigolds are still going strong too. Right now, our weather is pretty close to early May and the flowers are responding.

My morning glories are full grown now and flowering better than they have all year since we have had the added rain. Part of the reason for this late season push of blooms is the fact that these plants know the season is about to end, and they are trying to produce as many flowers and seeds as possible to ensure the future of their line. Until that first frost comes, these plants will continue to show great color which is enhanced by all the added fall colors that are coming into view with each passing week.

If you have the time, now is a good time to start saving seeds if you haven't done so already this year. I do this with my morning glories each year because I have so many different color varieties that I want to make sure I can have again in the future. Morning glories are easy to collect as their seeds are very large, generally only four to eight seeds per pod. Foxglove on the other hand, are extremely tiny with hundreds of seeds per pod. No matter the size of the seed the storing is roughly the same. First, clean up your seeds to get rid of stems, leaves, etc., but do not wash them. You want to keep the seeds dry at all times. After you clean them, spread them out on a cookie sheet and just let them sit in a sunny window for an hour or two. This will draw out any moisture that might have infiltrated the seed. Once thoroughly dry, put them in a clean dry jar, add some desiccant packets and then seal the jar. Desiccant packs can be purchased online, but I just save the packets or pods that are in every prescription bottle.

Those pods are good for six to eight months once the prescription is opened, so I just place those in another sealed bottle until I need them for my seeds. I have an old jelly jar of foxglove seeds that are now three years old and still have over sixty percent germination. Seeds should be stored in glass jars not plastic, I'm not entirely sure why but plastic effects the seeds, probably the petroleum base of the plastic. If you are worried that the jar lid won't seal properly cover the jar with wax paper first then close the lid, this will seal it.

Besides flower seeds, I will be drying my pumpkin, zucchini and cucumber seeds too. They take a little more frying time since they are coming out of very moist vegetables. As far as my pumpkins go, I usually save about twenty of the largest seeds out of a pumpkin as this will be all that I need for next spring. When I plant them all next spring, even if only fifteen germinate, I will plant four and give the rest away. The pumpkin plants I had this year produced fourteen pumpkins which is enough for my five, soon to be six, granddaughters for Halloween. The extras I roast and save the pumpkin puree for pumpkin bread and cookies, and the extra seeds get roasted.

Now to be fair, when I was working seven days a week, I never had time to do any of this, so if you don't have the time, I fully understand. But, if your retired like me, keep yourself busy, collect some seeds for next year and save some money doing it. Even if you have never done it before, what do you have to lose?