Rusty Hinge 2 wrote:
The message
from "Donna Ludlow" contains these words:

Hi All

I have grown some lovely minature sunnies this year and was hoping to save
some seeds to grow some more next year. I have had a look around the web
but cant find anything telling you when i best to harvest the seeds. The
main heads are now dropping and lost all their petals. The inside flowers
are drying out and dropping off. When do others usually save their seeds
from the heads?

When you can run your finger over the seeds and dislodge some - easily.
It'll be a while yet, and you might have to provide some protection from
the birds.

Personally, I'd leave them for the birds and get fresh seed next year:
there's no guarantee that the seeds you save will grow into dwarf
sunflowers - indeed, it's extremely unlikely that they will. (Some will,
but others are almost sure to be of differing heights.)

I grew sunflowers four years ago as fun for the Grandchildren. Some
still came up this year!