"John McGaw" wrote in message .. .
I know that there are frequent questions about the possibility/advisabilty
of raising daffodils from seed. And the answer usually is "yes you can but
the bulbs are so cheap why would you bother to wait years for flowers from
seeds?" Well, my question is a parallel but involves hyacinths. I planted
some fairly pricey bulbs from a local garden center last autumn and the
flowers this spring were spectacular. I'd like to have more of them but at
over $2 per bulb I'm not going to buy too many more. But a large number of
the flowers set seed and have large seedpods now. What would be the process
of harvesting and planting the seeds? I realize that it may be several years
before anything comes of it but I'd like to try it as much to satisfy my
curiosity as to save $20 for a couple more bags of bulbs. TIA

Usually plants make seeds at about the best time for the seeds to
germinate, so right now seeding should be best (they may germinate
next year). If you are afraid that the new plants be inferior-looking
(they probably will), they will almost certainly maintain the
ruggedness of the species. So you could consider harvesting the seeds
and start a new patch away from the original bulbs. If you have one of
those dry shade problem spots (or maybe under a conifer), they will
still make a nice drift even though the new plants are not true. If
they come true or close to, move them to other places.