Collecting Milkweed Seeds

What creature is that in the photo, you might ask...

It's a wet old Family Jewels Asclepias physocarpa seed pod.

I kept two plastic bags full of these seed pods hanging from a hook in our little garden shed for over half a year now, foolishly thinking they would dry up, preserving the seeds.

Now that I offered seeds to friends, I finally opened the plastic bags to remove the seeds from the pods.

The bags had not been tied shut, but they now contained a ghastly mess of wet pods.

I had to throw out the contents of one of the bags because there was nothing left to salvage from the soggy debris.

However, believe it or not, there were a lot of seeds to be found in this bag.

There were a lot of pods like the one in the top photo that contained plenty of lovely dried seeds.

It was very easy to open the pods and remove the seeds.

And collect them in an envelope.

Some I planted in flower pots to give to friends to grow and host monarch butterflies.