In zone 6 they self-sow. Not sure about your zone. But they do need cold so spring sowing won't work (at least it hasn't for me). You may want to save some seeds and try winter sowing in case they don't reseed.

Mine self seed like you wouldn't believe! LOL! The ones I don't want I just turn the soil over well. I had grown them for several yrs, then stopped. I still had seeds germinate 2 yrs later, even though I hadn't let any flower the previous summer. I'm growing them again because I do love them.

Kat

.... same experience as Kat.

Al

Thanks! I hope mine do self seed. If I want to collect some seeds and have them in another garden, should I just broadcast them in the fall (like I do with my alpine columbine), or wait until late winter/spring? Anyone know how to ID the leaves while they are still small? With some plants (like my self-seeding verbenia bonarensis) it seems like I never realize what they are until too late. Thanks!

Just sow the seeds when they are ready to drop...usually about mid September.
The seedlings look just like small cleome....same leaf.
Linda C

Thanks! A seedling that stands out makes it so much easier. I have a lot of columbines because it is so easy to recognize the seedlings while weeding.

When I touch a cleome seedpod of a certain size, though, they burst open even if not brown. Are those seeds too immature to grow? I have already collected some but wondered if maybe they are not ripe.

I read that the black seeds are viable even if the capsule is still green.

Just in case save some from the browned capsules which have almost all black seeds. Numerous brown capsules on mine have already popped open and cast their seed. Don't have enough experience to be sure plants expel seeds when they're ripe but I'm guessing so.

I have one Cherry Queen in full sun and it's got 16 large stems with a never ending supply of seeds!

It's the only plant in that garden the deer, rabbits and groundhogs never munched on. I'd say it's the prickly feel of stems and underside of leaves but deer ate rose bushes with large thorns to the ground. Maybe they don't like the "scent" of Cleome...LOL.

Cleome doesn't have a "scent"!

for such pretty flowers; they sure DO STINK don't they ~ i think mine are cherry queen too ~ this picture shows a forest of cleome ~ every one self-sown ~ i LOVE them!
{{gwi:21426}}

I had Violet Queen grow from a pack of mixed annual/perennial seeds I sowed in a border. I was so happy, a total of six grew and are blooming great. Healthy so far,too. This thread reminds me to save some seed.

I never noticed a scent (or stink!), maybe IÂm lucky. But I have lilies blooming now, maybe they are covering it up.

I like that rich color. Only one nursery near here carries them, and always a pale pink that is not as pretty. This year they had a few white and I picked out all those but one in the pack turned out to be pink after all.

Mine are not multi-stemmed. They were in a four pack and each has only one stalk. Do you have to pinch them before they start blooming?

I grew Violet Queen from seed this year, for the first time. I am very pleased with the plants, but I can't help but think that they look like something out of a Dr. Suess book, lol! Between the 1-inch-diameter stalks, the leaves growing up the stem, the seed pods sticking out all over the place, and the blooms themselves, they really do look like they belong in one of his stories!

:)
Dee

Linnea, if you deadhead them every so often...not all at once, they'll branch out from the main stem more. I just deadhead a couple at time about a week apart so there'll always be flowers.
Dee, I love the violet ones. I've had Rose Queen which I really liked. They start off pink and fade to white...different colors on one plant. Those seed pods do look odd. LOL!

Kat

I call the seed pods "Cleome Haricot Verts" as they look like the tiny French green beans you pay good money for in restaurants...LOL.

I see a Cleome forest in my future too with this humongous plant.

Dr. Zeuss is a good analogy...it's the weirdest looking plant but it sure is interesting and can't stop it from blooming.

At least nothing ate it like so many other plants I've tried to grow. Near the odiferous Cleome there are 8-10 inch Gomphrena plants blooming since they were eaten down so many times by rabbits/groundhogs. I'm the only one who can see the cute little flower balls since I'm the only one who ventures into that bed to deadhead and water.

I had to laugh when I saw this thread pop up again. "Do Cleome self-sow?"...had I only known before...LOL.

On a serious note, my Cleome flowers are kind of curled up unlike the beautifully open blooms in phyl345's photo.

Keep thinking it needs more water since it looks like such a vascular giant and it's in full hot sun all day. Water up in that bed every couple of days as things start to droop if I try to wait the "once a week" that people say is all that's needed for bedding plants. Maybe annuals need more than perennials...so many plants and so many details to remember!

I only fed it once this season for fear it'd get even larger. Maybe I'll give it a proportionate fertilizer "bloom blast" and see if it helps blooms open up more until frost as I don't see it stopping its upward and outward growth before then...LOL.

Phyl, your stems look so...normal, lol! The stems on many of my cleome are literally over an inch in diameter. This is my first year with them, so I don't know if this is normal or not!

Kat, yes, the Violet Queen are beautiful, also with the two different colors. I'm very pleased with them.

:)
Dee

Dee, mine have always gotten very large stems. Reminded me of young trees. :) In one garden where I used to grow them, I had to put peony cages around them because they got so top heavy and would lean even with the large stems. Those cages kept them growing straight.
Newbie, I only water once a week. We've had summers that were in the 90s from mid June until early Sept. I mulch and water deeply once a week. Depends on what kind of soil you have too. I've got some clay, but I've amended the soil in all my gardens. Not much clay, but it probably helps.

Kat

diggerdee - around my area, older flower gardeners (me included) call them "Cat's Whiskers".

Schoolhouse, I think they should be called "Cat-in-the-Hat Whiskers", lol! I swear they would fit right in perfectly on the pages of a Dr. Seuss book!

:)
Dee

Linnea: Do cleome self-sow? As they say: is the Pope a Catholic? Every spring I have thousands of self-sown cleome seedlings. My challenge is to reduce them to a manageable number, leaving space between each one that I keep.

I have raised cleome's for 6 years. I live in zone 6a and they resow every year. I couldn't believe how many came back this year! I have all 4 varieties and tried the yellow rocky mountain variety this year with no luck. I love to mix cosmos and zinnia's with them. I have one over 7 feet tall! A great year.

Wow, my old thread pops up! After one year when they self-sowed, never again. I'd buy the white ones if I saw them, but have not, in a long time. Just shades of pink that are too similar to other things I have. I'll have to see if I can find seeds to direct-sow for the white ones.

" I'll have to see if I can find seeds to direct-sow for the white ones. "

A few white cleomes:

Cleome Helen Campbell

Cleome Queen White

Cleome Sparkler White

ZM (not associated with any product or vendor mentioned or linked)