If I can keep from dead heading I wait until the plants start to dry before collecting brown eyed susan and coneflowers. But as long as the flower head is dry you can clip it off but lay them on a newspaper or aluminum pie pan in a cool dark place until it is thoroughly dried.

We have a lot of them, so I just wait until their flowers are all dried out on the plant and the flower stems are dry. Then cut off the flowers and catch them in a plastic ziplock box and shake.

The seed falls out and I dump the rest of the deadheads in my black-eyed susan patch so that any seeds I missed will direct sow.

I leave the seed (in the box) out in the sunshine on my porch table for a while to make sure that any buggies present wander off.

Lynda