If I clip off these flowers when they are dying off and bury the dying flower clippings in the planter will they grow a new? I thought I had read something about this on here recently, but wasn't sure if these two types of flowers fall into that category.
Toby
Removing the spent flowers is call "dead heading." The spent flowers will not grow new plants. If you look at zonal geraniums (the kind sold as annuals that are actually pelargoniums) you will see that they have nodes along the stems where new leaves emerge. If you bury stems (not spent flowers) so the node is below the surface, you should get root formation. To improve your luck, you can use some rooting hormone. I haven't heard of anyone rooting marigold cutting, but I guess you could try. You will can usually find marigold seeds at garden centers. I think you would have better luck trying to grow marigolds from seed rather than cuttings.
The dead heads that get pollinated or whathaveyou become seeds. Towards the end of the season i let them get ratty and dried out on the stem then collect a bunch for the next year. The seeds are rather unusual looking--like tiny matchsticks. One end is black , the other is feathery with long strands, like a broom. They are rather large for seeds, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch long. If you roll a dried dead-head around in your fingers the seeds will come out. I also do that with Nasturtiums since they are both beneficial plants. The only geraniums I've had I over wintered indoors. The flowers when left develop into spikes, which contian the seeds from my understanding. I've never had them reseed though. Actually I take that back I did see one wild one.
DiGiTAL ViNYL (no email) Zone 6b/7, Westchester Co, NY,
Marigolds are very easy to root. The biggest advantage to rooting cuttings is that if you root cuttings from a blooming plant the rooted cuttings are ready to bloom also rather than waiting for a plant started from seed to mature.
Marv-Montezuma, IA
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