Absolutely I allow them. They save a lot of work. Self planting and perfectly suited to their environment.

I love them and purposely look for self-seeders. The photo below is an in-between time in my garden from early July, and it is practically all self-seeders: feverfew, Rose Campion, fringed dianthus, violas, poppies, and Sweet William Catchfly. Without them there would be a couple of boring weeks in the garden! Now Calendula is the star self-seeder and is a great complement to lilies. Echinacea self-seeds, of course, and since I have huge patches of that I'm going to have to get some backbone next year and pull some. I have never been able to tell if I have a standout seeded specimen. I should probably look harder, and learn how to differentiate. I have plenty of cross-breeding between standard Echinacea, Magnus Superior, Prairie Splendor, and Bravado, all grown from seed, so I don't think I could tell much difference between those. I do have a seedling of Joe Pye Weed that is only three feet tall, new this year, but it's too soon to tell if that is a permanent characteristic. It could be just because we've had practically no rain for so long. The parent Joe Pye has got to be over seven feet high.

I really love that you were able to notice the characteristics of your seedling. I've seen so many cultivars with a history of "found by <name> as a seedling in..." and have always thought how wonderful it would be to happen upon a new variety in my own backyard. Frozebudd, let me know if you sell any seeds. I'll be adding more yellow to the garden and for some reason Heliopsis seeds are not plentiful out there from my usual vendors. Heliopsis and Helenium are both on the list to sow next year.

But then there's this aspect of self-seeding. I always let the seedheads ripen before cutting back, but, boy, is it ugly. My poppies are the worst and seem to take a long time to ripen. The empty space around this plant is from Nepeta and Salvia that were cut back, but the secondary flush hasn't grown much because we've had so little rain.

FBudd, I really LOVE your Heliopsis! It has to be the prettiest one I've seen in a long time. Is that your own seedling? What variety of Heliopsis did you start with?

Deanna, I love feverfew, but it hates my clay soil. You do get a lot of nice reseeding for sure. I wonder if the Calendula is effective with lilies, when I always think of them as an edger. Maybe your lilies are shorter?

In my garden, I have allowed certain things to reseed. What has been very successful has been Cleome ‘Violet Queen’. The reseeded plants so far, for the past 3 years look a lot like the original.

This year and last, I’ve been paying more attention to what reseeds. I have a ton of Aquilegia that reseed and I realized that all of the original varieties I started with are absent and the reseeded plants are not appealing. I read somewhere that is typical and this year I started pulling out all the plants I didn’t like, which was most of them. I am going to have to start over with new seed or plants.

Once I realized that I started paying attention to other plants. I had already noticed last year that the Cosmos that reseeds very well for me, I had the same problem with. I found fault with most of the plants that volunteered. So again, I plan on starting over with fresh seed. Some of the seedlings seem worthwhile and I am going to mark those so I can collect the seeds and try to plant those.

This year I have a ton of Dianthus seedlings all around the original plant. One has already bloomed and I loved the color. It was much prettier than the one I started with. I am planning on moving the seedlings to new locations and next year, I’ll see what I end up with.

Penstemon. I had ‘Dark Towers’ and that reseeded nicely. Some had paler dark leaves, some were completely green. I have one plant that is gorgeous. It’s solid green, and taller and more vigorous and bloomed longer than Dark Towers. So I am happy with that and again, will probably attempt to collect seed from that one this season.

I also saw on Gardener's World, that they were saying the same thing about Hellebores. If you do not keep adding new stock, you will end up with inferior plants. You have to keep the genetics vital, I guess.

So, I guess the bottom line is, I do love plants that reseed and will continue to allow them, but I think I will be happier with the outcome, if I am selective about what I keep and what I choose to allow to reseed.

PM, that's so exciting to hear you've found some beautiful seedlings! I'm not surprised one was a Dianthus. It's such a lovely genus! The lilies are tall, but the orientals bloom with the Calendula. The daylilies start earlier. The Calendula is not in the same bed as the lilies, but it's in the same garden are so they complement each other. The Calendula is generally spreading now. My seedlings are definitely more along the lines of the species, but some of them retain the paler coloring of the originals. I'll eventually start with some fresh seed, too. I have a very dark Columbine that comes true from seed. Let me know if you'd like a dark dark purple and I'll see if there are any more seedheads that haven't popped. I didn't plant it, so I don't know if it's the original plant.

Deanna, I stopped using Calendula for some reason. I don't always start annuals, which I wish I did. And I love calendula when they are really vigorous and pretty. Some I've tried were not. I also love Four OClocks and I've had trouble starting those and getting germination. So, I really want to make it a priority next season to start a lot more from seed. I used to winter sow like mad for about 3 years in a row, and I got a lot from that, but I haven't done it in awhile. Maybe this winter? [g]

I also have a pretty dark purple Columbine that seems to come true from seed, one of the few that did. [g] Thank you for the offer though! Another thing I used to do more of and found I didn't have the time to any more, was seed trading. I had a very good seed stash after a few years trading on GW but it's been years since I did that.

One problem with self-seeders (which I love) is that to get them, you can't do much mulching. This, in turn, allows the weeds to grow and the soil to dry out. Has anyone solved this problem?

Interesting point. Most of my self seeders were planted when I put in a thick mulch layer. The seeds that fell on top of the mulch seeded well, just like weeds on top of mulch. I suppose if I were to mulch now it could reduce germination of seeds that ripened and fell earlier this season. Maybe mulch is better at moisture retention than seed suppression?

Callirhoe, I mulch a lot and I find it is not easy to leave the ground bare enough to allow for reseeding. I use chopped up leaves on some parts of my beds around perennials and they break down over the course of the season and I seem to get reseeding in those areas. I use bark mulch along the edges and I rarely get reseeding there.

I let things reseed too! Feverfew, aquilegia, digitalis grandiflora, marigolds, queen Anne's lace, agastache, penstemon, lupines, cleome, larkspur, nigella, euphorbia, buplerum, echinacea, rudbeckia, hellebores, and I even have some remnants of frosted explosion grass here and there from years ago. I do wish my zinnias would reseed!

About the only thing I deadhead specifically so it does not reseed is lobelia siphilitica. It is beautiful but is a bit too aggressive in its spot, and I am trying to encourage the lobelia cardinalis that is there, which doesn't seem to reseed nearly as prolifically.

I've never paid enough attention to the seedlings/new blooms to notice any variations, and never noticed anything when the reseeded plants were mature either. But that's just me being oblivious lol.

And yes, the two very obvious (I mean that it's obvious in the garden to any onlooker) and annoying downsides to letting things reseed is not cutting back and having ugly foliage/seedheads, and also having to be careful in spring with weeding and mulching. But I think it's worth the effort!

:)
Dee

Thanks, Deanna. The trick, then, is getting the mulch down early in the season, before things start seeding. What I always SHOULD do anyway:)

Wow FrozeBudd -- that sweet Wiliiam is stunning! Very nice heliopsis too!

"I love calendula when they are really vigorous and pretty."

Me, too - but they peter out for me when the heat kicks in around late July and get ratty looking, I always rip them out about that time, I just can't stand it even though they're relegated to the vegetable garden. I didn't grow any this year, maybe I'll put them back on the list for next year.

I don't leave a lot of self-seeders purposely in the perennial beds -- to me they're weeds so out they go when I'm out there weeding. But, since I tend to neglect weeding during the summer, some do pop up, and if I know what they are and they're nice I might leave them. I had a chance brunnera crop up right next to the foundation, and it's a lovely silvery one ("Jack Frost"-type foliage) -- it's still there, though I'll eventually have to transplant it.

I know most people consider Queen's Anne's lace a weed but I really like it, I find it very pretty -- it self-sows back in the pasture along the vegetable garden fence line, so as long as it's not in the planting areas I just leave it.

I also was very pleased to find dill seedlings in the herb garden this spring -- they've been procreating all season, I've just been letting them do their thing -- ensures a continuous supply of fresh dill all season :0)

FBudd, that is one gorgeous Sweet William! I have never grown Sweet William. So do you overwinter cuttings in the house for containers the next season?

mxk3, I think Calendula are a cool season annual and can go out fairly early. If you winter sow them you have seedlings pretty early. I guess the way to use them might be to start more seedlings for the fall. Which I never get around to doing.

Dee, I agree, that is the one disadvantage, having to leave the dead stems and seedheads until the seed ripen. Because of that, I don't allow every plant to reseed. Depends on where it is and how visible it is from where we often view the bed, how long it's going to take to ripen. If it's a real eyesore, it often will get trimmed back sooner than later.

I forgot Dill. Dill reseeds for me a lot. It seems to always come back up both in the veggie bed and the perennial bed. I really enjoy the look and butterflies like it. Unfortunately, I discovered this year, that rabbits enjoy it as well. But they seem to have left me enough to enjoy. And you can use Dill in cooking as well.

One that I wanted to mention, is bronze fennel. That is one that I don't want to reseed at all. It is a very aggressive reseeder and if you don't get the seedlings out quickly, they are a tap root and you really have to make an effort with a trowel. And they will be everywhere. But, having said that, I wouldn't be without at least one Bronze Fennel. Love that plant and the pollinators love it too. Nice and airy. And you can use the seeds in cooking, can't you?

Wow! I'm with PM on the beauty of that Sweet William. It is certainly a keeper!

Sue, that's an impressive list of reseeders. This year is my first for digitalis, euphorbia, and penstemon. Hoping they survive winter and seed around, especially the digitalis.

PM, I didn't realize calendula was cool-season. It's natural ripening time for me is around the beginning of August. Not the best timing!

Dill is on the list next year for butterflies, forgot about that one. I'm glad to hear it seeds around, PM.

Deanna in ME, the self seeders really seem to LOVE your garden, I certainly enjoy those that gently seed around, though the carpet effect can be as nasty as some weed species! My favorites being hirta rudbeckia and "Foxy' foxglove, 'Golden Jubilee' agastache as well, but it can a bit heavy about and so is the lychnis coronaria. 'Golden Moss' feverfew is a fav, so being the hollyhocks and dianthus and blue elymus grass. Echinacea is a very light seeder here.

Prairiemoon, yes, the very pretty heliopsis had just appeared in the front bed, I generally give almost all heliopsis seedlings a chance and this one has not disappointed. I think it might possibly descend from "Summer Nights'. It certainly sounds like you have fun observing seedlings, even if many need to be yanked out for being inferior, something that I also have no problem doing, they must show a pretty face in order to stay, lol.

Mxk3 and Prairiemoon ... yes, it's a really unique sweet William seedling, I've had the occasional variegated sw, though never anything remotely resembling this, I love it and since it's one of a kind, I'm always in fear of losing the thing! These so hate winter wet, they can easily rot away, though in good drained soil generally winter okay, sometimes though losing most all foliage. I take cuttings in September which root very easily and then pot up and later store in the insulated unheated garage, I have also taken cuttings in early spring on successfully wintered outdoor plants.

Yes, there's something to be said for deadheading or outright removing mature dead and dying plants, sure can go a long ways to tidying up the gardens, I was doing such yesterday with ripping out the peas and trimming back some overgrown plants, sure looks much better!