Dried seed cluster of Golden Marguerite
Anthemis tinctoria
Golden Marguerite is a lovely old fashioned plant for the garden. It has well cut, somewhat ferny leaves, and small daisy flowers. The leaves and flowers are both scented.
Allow the flowers to fade and the petals to drop naturally from the plant. The center of the flower will swell as the seeds develop there. When it darkens and the stem below the center changes color from green to brown the seeds are mature. The seed head should come off easily from the plant, if you need to tug the seed head to remove it the seeds may not be entirely mature, allow the head to dry on the stem for a few more days before removing it.
Place the seed head on a plate and allow it to dry for a few days. After the head has dried crumble it between your fingers. It will separate into seeds and chaff. Remove the small round disk that was the back of seed head and discard it.
Anthemis seeds are very, very small and perhaps not bigger than 1/64th of an inch. They are triangular, being much longer than wider, and are light wheat in color. Because they are so small it is difficult to separate the seeds from the chaff. If desired you may dry the seeds and chaff for a few more days and ever-so-gently puff the dried chaff away from the seeds. My experience here has not been very successful, I often blow both seeds and chaff off the plate. Fortunately this step is not necessary as the chaff doesn't interfere with germination. Traders often send crumbled anthemis seed heads with instructions to surface sow both seeds and chaff. This is very acceptable and is a successful way to trade and sow anthemis seeds.
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