How to Collect Sunflower Seeds From Your Garden

If you have sunflowers growing in your garden this year, don’t be too quick to cut them down when the flowers start to fade. Those big flower heads are full of seeds that you can save and plant next year.

Saving sunflower seeds is incredibly simple, and it’s one of those little fall garden projects that makes the next growing season feel like it’s already beginning.

You can save seeds from your favorite sunflowers, label them, tuck them away for winter, and plant them again when spring arrives.

Here’s how to do it.

When to Save Sunflower Seeds

The best time to harvest sunflower seeds is toward the end of the growing season, once the flower head has matured.

You’ll know it’s getting close when:

• The petals have wilted and fallen away.
• The back of the flower head turns from green to yellow or brown.
• The seeds look plump and fully developed.
• The flower head begins to droop.
• The seeds feel firm when you press them.

Try not to harvest them too early. The seeds need time to fully mature on the plant.

If birds are helping themselves to your sunflower seeds before they’re ready, you can loosely cover the flower head with a paper bag, mesh bag, or piece of lightweight fabric.

Make sure air can still circulate around the flower.

Let the Sunflower Head Dry

Once the flower head has matured, cut it from the plant, leaving several inches of stem attached.

Bring the flower head indoors and place it somewhere warm and dry with good air circulation.

You can hang it upside down or simply lay it flat on a tray or piece of newspaper.

Let it dry completely before removing the seeds. Depending on how much moisture is still in the flower head, this may take several days to a couple of weeks.

The flower head should feel dry and papery before you start.

How to Remove Sunflower Seeds

Once the sunflower head is completely dry, removing the seeds is easy.

Hold the flower head over a bowl or tray and rub the seeds loose with your fingers.

You can also gently rub two dried sunflower heads together to loosen the seeds.

Pick out any pieces of dried flower material and discard any seeds that look damaged, moldy, or poorly developed.

I like to leave the seeds spread out on a tray for another day or two after removing them, just to make sure they are completely dry before storing them.

How to Store Sunflower Seeds for Planting

Once your sunflower seeds are completely dry, put them into a paper envelope or small airtight container.

Label the container with:

• Sunflower variety
• Color
• Year harvested

Then store the seeds somewhere cool, dry, and dark.

A dry cupboard or drawer works well. The important thing is to keep moisture and heat away from your seeds.

If you’re saving seeds from several different sunflowers, labeling them now will save you from wondering what you planted when spring arrives!

Will Saved Sunflower Seeds Grow Next Year?

Usually, yes—but there is one thing to keep in mind.

If your sunflower was an open-pollinated variety, the plants you grow from saved seeds are more likely to resemble the parent plant.

If you saved seeds from a hybrid sunflower, the resulting plants may not look exactly like the one you grew this year. You may get some fun surprises in color, height, or flower shape.

That’s part of the fun of saving seeds.

When to Plant Your Saved Sunflower Seeds

Sunflowers are warm-season flowers, so wait until the danger of frost has passed and the soil has warmed up in spring.

Plant the seeds directly in the garden about 1 inch deep and keep the soil lightly moist until they sprout.

And then you get to watch the whole process start over again.

One little dried flower head from this year’s garden can become a whole new group of sunflowers next year.

More Simple Garden Living Ideas

If you’re enjoying saving seeds and preserving pieces of your garden for next year, you might also like these:

How to Save Zinnia Seeds for Next Year’s Garden — another easy flower seed-saving project for fall.

How to Dry Calendula Flowers — a simple way to preserve flowers from the garden for projects and homemade uses.

How to Dry Rose Petals — save some of your garden flowers for later instead of letting them go to waste.

How to Grow Asters to Attract More Butterflies — another beautiful flower to add to a cottage garden.

How to Grow and Harvest Rose Hips — another way to enjoy what your garden has to offer as the seasons change.

There is something satisfying about saving your own seeds.

You get to keep a little piece of this year’s garden and carry it into the next growing season.

And when those first sunflower seedlings come up next summer, you’ll know they started with seeds you saved yourself.

That’s one of my favorite things about simple garden living. The garden keeps giving you something to work with, season after season.

Follow my fall garden living board on Pinterest.