From September through the fall is the perfect time to collect the seeds of many native plant species. Early blooming plants are already prime for harvesting and others will soon follow.
Sharing your seeds with the Capital Region’s native garden enthusiasts is a wonderful way to help more native plants take root in our communities. And there’s no better place to share seeds than at Wild Ones’ annual Native Plant Celebration and Seed Swap on Nov. 14 at the Thacher Park Visitors Center. Join us at the seed swap and you’ll take home seeds to expand your own native plantings in 2027.
There are some tips to ensure success.
- Remember to collect seeds only from your own plants or elsewhere only with permission from owners or property managers.
- Make sure you can correctly identify the plants from which you’re harvesting seeds as native to New York. Wild Ones uses the New York Flora Atlas (https://newyork.plantatlas.usf.edu/) as the authoritative source.
- Once you have your seeds collected, dried, and stored please register seeds here so we have time to create plant care signs.
For guidelines on the different seed head types and how to tell when they are ready to harvest, here’s an excellent article from the World Wildlife Fund. It’s full of tips on how to collect, clean and store native plant seeds.
Read “How to Harvest Seeds from Your Native Plants” https://wwf.ca/stories/harvest-seeds-native-plants/)
See you at the Seed Swap on Nov. 14th.
— Chapter President Rosemary Mix
