This week: Fall Seed Collecting
Hello!
While the varying bloom periods of flower species mean that you can collect seeds beginning in the spring and throughout the summer, fall is a time of plenty for seed collection—just ask the birds! Here’s how you can try your hand at gathering seeds from your native plants.
First Things First: Get Permission
If you aren’t collecting from your garden, get permission from the property owner first. In general, picking flowers (flowers are seeds!) is prohibited in state and federal forests and parks. You can pick berries, fruit, mushrooms, and nuts for personal consumption (as long as they aren’t on a restricted or endangered list)—so those are the only “seeds” you can harvest from these spaces.
Identifying Ripe Seeds
We’re going to focus on the easiest seeds to collect: the dried-up kind (not the aforementioned fruit and berry seeds). You can tell which seeds are ripe because the colorful flower parts are long gone, and the seedhead or pod is dry—usually a month or two after blooming. Ripe seeds are often black, brown, or tan. When you touch the seedhead or pod, it’ll rattle or easily crumble in your fingers. Or, you’ll see fluffy stuff ready for wind dispersal.
How to Collect Seeds to Save for Later
Collect ripe seeds on a dry day after the morning dew or frost has evaporated. Moisture is the enemy of seed! Clip the dead flower head into a paper bag with a clean pair of scissors or snips. Use one bag per flower type, and label the bag with the plant name and the date you collected it. Store the seed at room temperature (or a little cooler) in a dark, dry place for around two weeks to ensure it is fully dry.
Working one plant type at a time on a clean surface, remove the chaff from the seed. For plants like Blue False Indigo, it is as simple as cracking a pod open and tipping the seeds out. You’ll pull the silky white filaments away from the seed for Milkweed. For Coneflowers and Black Eyed Susans, you’ll smash and separate the seeds from the other spiky bits. If you aren’t sure what the seed should look like, the Prairie Moon Nursery website includes seed pictures in their online catalog.
Don’t worry if the seed isn’t perfectly clean—the object is to remove parts that could contribute excess moisture and attract bacteria and fungus to the seed.
Label and store your seeds in paper envelopes or jars, and keep them in a cool, dark, dry place until you are ready to use them. For an even more in-depth tutorial on seed collecting, check out this video from the University of Maryland Extension.
How to Collect Seeds and Use Them Now
Did that sound like a lot of work to you? Here’s what to do instead. If there’s a plant in that you want more of, collect the seedhead and use it immediately. Disturb the ground where you’d like this plant to grow in the future with a hand rake, and then crumble or crush the seedhead, pat it into the disturbed soil, and leave it up to nature! This is my preferred method of always having a splash of Cardinal Flowers in my garden.
Elsewhere:
Get ready for Halloween by reading up on some of our spookiest native plants, from Dead Man’s Fingers and Doll’s Eyes to Ghost Plant, in this article from the Penn State Extension Master Gardeners.
Have a great week!
Julie