lilac was my first guess ... i might be surer if it wasnt all broken apart ...

compare at link ...

color can not be predicted by seed...

but rather.. with lilac.. to insure color.. would involve taking a sucker ... to insure such ...

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

They look like a Baptisia australis (falso indigo) seedpods.
Photo of my plant - does it look similar to what's growing in your dad's garden?
Rina

Nope.. these seed pods are very tiny. Let me try and get more pictures

Open seed pods and a quarter

leaves and the trunk of the plant

The leaves look very much like lilac, Syringa hybrid.

And they do grow with twisted trunks quite often,

so together with the seed pods 96.5% positive that it is Syringa

I can see now, baptisia has much larger pods (and no trunk!)
Rina

This post was edited by rina_ on Sat, Oct 18, 14 at 0:32

Leaves look like S. vulgaris.