On Sat, 1 Nov 2003 14:06:56 -0600, Mark Anderson
wrote:

I've never been good at this but will try again this year harvesting
seeds from the plants. Do I need to harvest after the plant dies or can
I snip the seeds off now? I have a lot of moonflower and morning glory
seeds just waiting sitting there all closed up on the vine.

Most flower seeds, in my experience, express their readiness to be
planted by starting to spill from the plant. That is, if they're
enclosed in pods, the pods dry and split; on others, the petals drop
off and the center 'seedy bits' become more prominent and dry. As I
recall, morning glories form a round pod that gradually turns papery
and dry, and begins to split, exposing the black seeds within.

If the flower seeds are "ripe" -- usually tan, brown or black, not
green, and dry -- they are ready to be harvested. Of course, given the
variety of the plant world, there is no single rule for this.