Preparing Digitalis for Winter and seed collecting

[Osiris8307]

I bought 8 digitalis from Wal-mart, been doing great, at $4 for a blooming one, can't go wrong. Anyway, our first frost is prolly about a month or so away, could use some advice on what to do to them for winter? and I want them to come back next year, was reading to plant their seeds in the fall, how do I collect seeds from these flowers?

Have bunch of other types, they bloomed in spring, and began looking like going to rebloom but just keep filling up green type buds and bulging, those must be seeds on those plants? I can take some pics tomorrow when daylight is out again...

[bullthistle]

The best time to collect seeds from pods is when they are dry and ready to burst and the best thing to do is to put a plastic bag over the seed head and allow it to burst on it's own. Any perennial in colder zones needs to be mulched heavily and to allow it to get moisture throughout the winter.

[applestar]

When the seed pods shatter, these plants will self sow and start a colony. If you want to grow them somewhere else as well, then what I do is wait until the stalks are completely dry, then put a paper grocery bag over them and bend the stalk over until they kink over -- they usually don't break off. I then cut the stalk off with a pruner, standing it upside down in the bag, and shake it vigorously. That's usually sufficient to gather a goodly amount of seeds.

I usually sort them for bugs and chaff in a bowl (I sometimes double-shift to clean larger particles and dust), then I like to transfer them to a labeled paper lunch bag and leave them to dry out completely on the top of my kitchen bookshelf, but top of the fridge would work as well.

Mostly, though, I just pull off the opened seed pods in my gloved hand, then immediately scatter them where I want them to grow. Oh, I occasionally carefully cut off a dried stalk and carefully walk it over to where I want to sow the seeds, then wave it around like a magic wand.

[microcollie]

I used to have big problems with digitalis. It always did fine the first year but died over the winter in my zone 4 garden. I found the trick was to not mulch. Since I've stopped mulching, it has been fairly reliable. I just let the snow cover protect them through the winter.
I don't harvest the seeds per se, but also cut the flower stalks and wave them around a bit over the areas to be seeded. I did try a couple years back to start some inside in early spring, but had better luck with those out in the garden.
Just a note...It's one of the more poisonous plants around, so make sure to keep pets away.