Heirloom Flower Seeds That Reseed Themselves

Sweet Peas

• One of the oldest heirloom flowers is the sweet pea, first discovered in the 17th century in Italy. Sweet peas became a favorite in Victorian gardens with delicate pastel-colored flowers and intoxicating fragrance. The old-fashioned, heirloom sweet pea varieties can be identified by a stronger fragrance than the newer hybrid varieties. Sweet peas develop pods, similar in looks to a vegetable pea pod, which hold the seeds. As the pod dries, it bursts open, distributing sweet pea seeds for the following year.

Snapdragons

• Snapdragons are another old-fashioned flower that is easy to grow and a favorite of gardeners. Heirloom varieties are available in a rainbow of vibrant colors, with plant sizes ranging from short 6-inch plants to plants that reach close to 4 feet in height. The seeds of snapdragons are tiny and germinate easily when you allow the flowers to naturally dry on the stem at the end of the growing season. Harvest the seeds, or let them fall to the ground to reseed for next year.

Poppies

• There are several varieties of heirloom poppies that will reseed and germinate effortlessly, spreading new bright poppy plants blooming in places you may not want them. Heirloom poppies, like the California poppy and Shirley poppy, are so prolific in reseeding that they are sometimes considered wildflowers. In the wild, California poppies bloom shades of orange, while Shirley poppies are vibrant red, but, as an heirloom in your garden, you can grow these delicate looking poppies in a variety of colors.

Zinnias

• The vivid and brilliant colors of heirloom zinnias will brighten your garden and landscape. Always a favorite, heirloom zinnias are hardy and abundant in blooms that continue until late in the fall. Like other heirloom flowers, if you leave the flower heads on your zinnia plants to dry naturally, the seeds will disperse and reseed. Because zinnias produce so many blossoms you can also clip the dead blossoms, separate the seeds and store them in an envelope to plant at a location of your choice in the spring.