h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Purists endorse leaving seedheads intact all Winter.

Food and nesting materials, maybe other uses as well.

Yes! It looks like a spider has made a bit of a web on this one, and the gossamer fluff will be good nesting material indeed, as well as the seeds being food

The seedhead was in front of me when I was birdwatching - I liked the lighting effect and the subtle background, and thought it was a particularly pleasing subject for black and white

The plants in my yard re full of seedheads.

There are rewards for leaving them: A. it's easier on me, B. I get the satisfaction of seeing "volunteers" pop up in unexpected places (new England Asters have seeded themselves in at least three places, where they will be loved), and C. this is how plants are *supposed* to look during the off season. Most of my neighbors and friends labor hard to make their gardens look neat. That's not my philosophy. The things that grow in my yard should arguably be things that might grow here in a wild state of nature.

If people disagree, they can complain to the park manager, but there seems to be tacit consent for plants that make flowers. I have those in abundance.

What we do around here is to collect the seeds in envelopes and save them for next year - then replant them where we want them.

That's a remarkably organized plan.

it may depend on the type of plant, though. Holly and roses produce seeds that tend not to germinate until they have been in the ground a year or two. If you are adept in the art of scarification and/or stratification, you might be able to get germination the next year, or not.

But with seeds from simple plants like Echinacea or Rudbeckia, these sophisticated methods might not be needed. Seed companies generally have instructions for getting seeds to germinate on the seed packets.

If you plant the seeds where you want them to grow, you're taking the chance that Nature will agree with you as to the wisdom of the location you've selected.

I have had good luck in most cases, so maybe it's not that hard. Good luck.

i love Rudbeckia Hirta (simple biennial Black-eyed Susans). I grew them form seed once, and for years afterwards thy self-seeded themselves. There's quite a thicket of them in front of the shed that's next to the Pak office.