Ruiner. Is there some area closer to him where I can drop the seed or something?

[Varitus]

Going back to him is such pain in the ass...

[mayhem523]

In the cave where you get the tablet for gerlinde, you can drop a seed there. It's an opening on the right side of the larger cave you have to go through to get to ruiner.

Edit: I'm assuming you're referring to the ruiner boss fight on the bridge in fitzroy's gorge. If it's some random ruiner, need to know which one.

[Daea]

In Lower Calrath, past the Alehouse Vestige (taking the path where you go under it and through a hallway of Trapper fire traps, assuming you haven't opened up many shortcuts), you eventually get to a circular plaza with a tree in the middle that a Ruiner patrols around, up some stairs in that room, there's a flowerbed you can set a seed. I used that area a ton to farm the Ruiner for large shards early on in my first playthrough.

[Tempura Knight]

Originally posted by mayhem523:

In the cave where you get the tablet for gerlinde, you can drop a seed there. It's an opening on the right side of the larger cave you have to go through to get to ruiner.

This. You have to be in Umbral (?) to get into the opening, I'm pretty sure. Correct me if I'm wrong