Harvesting Seeds from Native Plants on your Mountain Land
Get ready now!
Start Planning Now for Collecting Seeds Later
“Native seeds are so expensive!” We hear this a lot. We who live in the mountains are fortunate; we can gather native seeds from land we own or care for, pay nothing, have fun outdoors … and this can be a gift to the land.
How is saving and planting native mountain seed good for the land?
Native local seeds are overall the best adapted to local conditions and will be the most successful diverse group of plants you can grow, especially as the climate changes. They are the least fussy, easiest to care for, the most likely to germinate and grow successfully in your conditions, the most genetically adaptable. They are the best able to create resilient habitat supporting local pollinators, other beneficial insects and other animals. They are the most useful plants to recolonize your mountain land after a wildfire or erosion event; they’ve done that for millenia.
Native plants are experts at restoring eroded and degraded land to health, stabilizing the soil, cleaning water and air, regulating temperature, protecting the land from scorching sun and wild winds, storing carbon, in some cases crowding out invasive species, providing food, fiber, and even commercial products. In sum, they are the foundation of native local habitat, communities, and economies, benefitting soil bacteria to bears, fungi to forests, protozoans to people. They know how to do it.
Non-adapted plants from elsewhere, even of the same native species but from a different region, may germinate but not survive, may try to grow, unsuccessfully, in weather conditions that local plants have no problem with such as spring or fall rain or temperature fluctuations and averages at the time the non-local plant is not used to. They may be less hardy, die earlier or at higher rates, or not produce seed or fruit as well as local natives; they may be more susceptible to insect attack and diseases. They aren’t bad, it’s just that their DNA is adapted to different conditions. Local pollinators may not recognize the non-local plant as a food source or host plant. Over time, the plant might accommodate, but it’s still so much better to save your own home-grown seed for use in your local area.
How do the US Forest Service and other large organizations get native seeds after high intensity forest fires and floods, when huge areas need re-seeding? That seems more important than a few homeowners saving seeds.
The Plant Conservation Alliance, a consortium of public and private organizations including the United States Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, Xerces Society and many others, came together to discuss how best to grow, harvest, and store our national native seed supply of forbs (wildflowers), shrubs, and grasses for large-scale, ecosystem-based land management needs. The Alliance developed and is implementing the National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Conservation region by region. The need is huge and the supply is not yet able to keep up. The excellent film Native Seeds Supplying Restoration made by the Society for Ecological Restoration tells this story. Watch it in full or bite-size segments.
Supply is dwarfed by demand in most areas of the country; your home-saved seeds are precious. Every homeowner and land steward is important. Every strip of land in front of a store or around a fencepost is a potential restoration area. Our dots are coming together to form an active, interconnected, regenerative landscape.
Another compelling reason to save native mountain seeds at home is also scarcity-related: most nurseries cannot keep up with homeowner demand for plugs and starts of non-hybrid native plants. So they are compelled to sell hybrids and cultivars, those plants altered by the nursery trade to favor one or more characteristics such as more or bigger petals for show, easier handling and shipping etc. But cultivars may not provide for pollinators’ needs and so native insects and birds may avoid them; the research telling us which cultivars are ok for your local ecosystem is slim to non-existent. So much better to save seeds from plants you know are trustworthy as native habitat and learn to grow more from your own reliable, resilient seeds (or those you trade with neighbors.)
Before You Collect
Correctly ID the plant(s) you plan to harvest seed from.
How long is the seed collection window for a certain plant? some plants’ seeds are only available for a few days, some for a few weeks or even longer. If you miss this window, you have to wait until next year.
If you collect too early, the seed will be immature: when you cut into it, you will see liquid in the first phase of growth or what looks like soft dough in the next stage. Mature seed is most often hard. Immature seed will not produce well, if at all. If you collect too late, the seed may have shattered and dispersed.
Flowering and fruiting can happen early or late in a given year. If it’s a cooler, wetter year, growth may be delayed; if it’s drier, growth and thus seed maturity may be earlier than usual. So keep your eye on it.
When to look and what to look for:
Cool season grasses and forbs start to grow in late winter and early spring, depending on the species, and in early summer they flower. If the summer is hot, they could go dormant, but if there’s rain in the fall, when it’s cooler and it rains (or you irrigate), they may start growing again.
Warm season grasses and forbs start to grow in late spring and flower, depending on the species, and in late summer and early fall they flower. They go dormant when winter comes.
Indeterminate flowering plants have a long collecting season. Many native wildflowers and some warm season grasses are like this. Their seeds at the base of the plant mature first; seed maturation continues up the stalk as time goes on, so on any given stalk you can find many different stages of flowering and seed maturity.
Determinate flowering is found in many cool season grass species. Here the first flowers and ripe seeds are the ones at the top of the spike; seed maturation continues downward as time goes on.
Look for signs indicating seed maturity in your target species: changes in the color of the seed coat or the fruit, fruits splitting open, pods that rattle when you shake them (d/t the dry seeds inside), seeds that are hard and dry, some of which may already have dropped off the plant.
If you are collecting at different elevations, start at the lowest and slowly move upslope as the growing season moves up. If you’ve missed the window for seeds of your species on south-facing or west-facing slopes or anything in between, look to north-facing or northeast-facing slopes; the window may still be open there.
Once you’ve determined that there are enough plants with enough mature, healthy seeds—dry, dark, maybe loose in its shell--to start harvesting, do a cut test.
The Cut Test
Boulder County Native Seed Garden Manager, Carrie Cimo, recommends putting a small piece of double sided sticky tape on a clipboard and affixing your seed to that first so it doesn’t shoot away when you cut it open. With a sharp knife, cut the seed open. Look for signs of damage: the inside material (embryo) is misformed, dessicated, you see insect larvae or damage. Cut enough seeds to see if most of your potential crop is good. If it is, get your tools ready.
Seed Collecting Tools
Sticky tape such as two-sided sticky tape or masking tape
Knife to do the cut test
Clipboard for the cut test and to write on
Brown paper bags, small brown (unbleached) coin envelopes, large grocery or small hardware store bags, depending on how much you are collecting for collecting. Double them—less chance of breaking.
Plastic container, if you prefer, such as a bucket or a cottage cheese or yogurt or similar container; you can cut a seed-sized hole in the top of the dairy containers so only the seed of your choice falls in, and not out. You can put a string through the body of the container to put around your neck to free your hands.
Tray, if you prefer: you can hold it or a paper bag under the plant and shake the seeds from the plant.
Permanent black marker or pencil to write on the paper bags or on tags to clearly identify your seeds
Pruners, heavy scissors, garden clippers or small shears. You can clip the stem just below the spike or spikelet of grasss, penstemons, or similarly flower-spiked plants, leaving enough stem so you can hold it. Or it can be just as easy to hand strip or shake the stem into buckets or bags.
Hand lens With some tiny-seeded plants it is easier to remove part of the flower and vigorously rub it with your hands to get the seed off. Check your success with a hand lens.
Gardening gloves to protect hands from sharp or sticky parts of some plants or when stripping seed heads
Tarp for shrub seed – place the tarp around the shrub and pick, shake, or lightly beat branches to release the seed onto the tarp.
Netting or Mesh – If your target species is one that dehisces (shoots out its seed), you can cut the entire flower head just before seed maturity, put it in mesh or paper bags or under netting and let it dry. It will explode into the netting.
Ladders for reaching seed from tall shrubs
Telescoping pruners to prune plants and reach seeds.
Whatever the tool, collect in a way that causes least damage to the surrounding plants.
During the Collection
Keep your collecting container weed-free, closed as much as possible— both to keep the seeds in and to prevent unwanted seed from falling in. Use separate paper bags or collecting containers for each species and label them asap.
Collect no more than 20% and then only when seed is very abundant on any given collection day. In the case of indeterminate flowering (see definition above), you can safely harvest more, which will stimulate more seed to mature, just as happens when an animal nibbles it. Just make sure you are leaving enough for wildlife, including insects and to allow the native population of your plant to regenerate.
For the widest possible genetic diversity: Collect as random a selection of seed from your target plant as possible—tall, short, broad, spindly, different colors, rare or common characteristics, widely spaced from each other. If they all look pretty much alike and the population is large, collect from every fifth plant. 30-50 or more plants per species is optimal, but do what you can.
Collect dry seed. Sleep in, don’t collect in the early morning if there is dew. (When the butterflies are out and about in mid-morning is a good time to collect.) Moisture makes the seed rot.
Temperature: If seeds are exposed to high temperatures for a period of time, for instance sitting in a hot car for a few hours, this could damage them. Keep an airflow around the seeds. Bring the ones you’ve harvested into the house or under a cool, shady tree, instead of leaving them in the hot sun.
Label your seed collection
People think they will remember which is which, but most of us don’t.
Use separate paper bags or collecting containers for each species and label them asap with the following information:
Botanical (Latin) name
Common name or names
Collection date
Collection place (the small bush by the northeast fence near the chokecherry)
Origin of seed (did it come from a neighbor or a local native plant nursery or?)
Collector’s name
If there is more than one bag with the same species, label the bags1 of 3, 2 of 3, etc.
Optional but interesting and useful data to keep over the years: for each collection, estimate the viable seed production per population, per individual plant, and per fruit; note these specs in a log. This could be valuable information for current or future community scientists.
Take Pictures, one of the landscape which includes your plant population, another of individual plants of your target species, a third of the seed you collected. You can also take a picture of the flower and/or the leaf and any other identifying feature. This again could be valuable for you or others.
Seed Drying If there’s any question about how dry your seed is, here are several methods to use to dry seed: one, spread it out in a single layer on newspaper, put it in a well-ventilated area and let it dry. A fan on the lowest setting nearby can help as well. Two, if the temperature is not over 90F, dry seeds in the sun for about a week; every few days, mix the seeds around so different parts get exposed to the sun. Three, spread in a thin layer on tarps, screens, wood or cardboard, inside or out. Protect from wind and birds.
Seed Storage Keep in a dry, cool or cold place with low humidity. The freezer is good; you can put the brown bags or envelopes inside a plastic container.
Seed Germination Find out what special treatment your seed needs before it can germinate; does it fire, a certain period in freezing temperatures, scarification or passage through the gut of a specific animal? Get that process going before attempting to germinate and plant the next winter or spring.
Plant seed profiles
Here are a few to get you started, directly from Project Wingspan: Landscape Enhancement for Imperiled Pollinators Seed Collection Manual
Asclepias spp., milkweed
Collection Time: Late summer
Collect seed pods as they turn yellow or greyish brown and begin to split. White fluff will likely be visible. Seed should be brown and plump when harvested. Do not collect pods with holes as these seeds are likely nonviable due to insect damage. Put the entire pod in the collection bag. Split open pod to remove seed and fluff. If you clean the seeds inside, you will likely have the downy fluff floating around the room as it is quite buoyant.
Be careful when handling milkweed plants, as the sap can harm your eyes. The initial irritation can be painful, followed by a cloudiness of the cornea, which can take a week to clear up. Take the following steps to avoid transferring milkweed sap to yourself or your fellow volunteers:
- Wear gloves while collecting milkweed pods
- Avoid contacting your face with your hands or gloves
- Wash your hands carefully after handling milkweed pods
- If milkweed sap gets into your eyes, seek medical attention immediately
Geranium maculatum, wild geranium
Collection time: Early summer
These seeds are challenging to collect, as the geranium seed pods burst when ripe and launch the seeds away from the parent plant. You will need to collect before the seed is fully ripe and when the carpel beaks begin to yellow. Remove the umbel and put it in the collection bag. Allow the seed to ripen in the bag. Store them in a cool dry location for two weeks before you lightly smash the carpel to release the seed.
Lupinus perennis, wild lupine
Collection Time: Summer
The hairy seed pods begin green and slowly turn brown as they mature. Harvest lupine seeds when the pods are dark brown, grey, or black and the seeds inside rattle when shaken. Seed pods burst when ripe and launch the seeds away from the parent plant. Carefully remove the pods with your fingers or a pair of scissors, making sure they don’t burst before being placed into your bag. Lupine seeds are oblong and somewhat flat, less than a quarter inch in diameter and dark brown. Split open some of the pods in the field to see if the seeds are brown and healthy. If the seeds are still green they are not ready.
Once harvested, fold over the top of the paper bag and store the seeds at room temperature until the pods explode or pop open. Depending on the pod's maturity, this may take a few hours or a few days. Collect the lupine seeds from the bottom of the bag. Some seeds may still be clinging to the pods and can be gently freed by running your finger along the inside of the lupine seed pod. Discard the empty pods.
Monarda fistulosa, wild bergamot
Collection Time: Mid through late summer
Seeds are ready for harvest when the flower head turns from green to brown. Ripened seed is tiny and inside the tiny calyx tubes that make up the flower head. Remove the petals (if there are any remaining) and place entire dried flower head into the collection bag.
Rudbeckia hirta, black-eyed Susan
Collection Time: Late summer to early fall
The seeds form on the inside of the brown or black cone in the center of the flower. When the cone becomes hard and turns grayish or dark brown the seeds are ripe. This usually occurs three to four weeks after the blooms fade. Remove the entire cone from the plant and put them in the collection bag.
References
Carrie Cimo, Plant Ecologist in charge of the Native Seed Garden at Boulder County Parks and Open Space
Colorado Plant Database Colorado mostly native plants database maintained by Native Plant Masters at the Jefferson County Extension website. Contains 1,000 entries. Good for botanical ID; life zone and habitat are the only specific gardening-related categories.
Colorado State Parks Stewardship Prescription: Native Plant Revegetation
Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database & Placement of Species Within Firewise Landscape Zones for Southern Idaho, but many species or related species in the database are native to Colorado; check in Flora of Colorado by Jennifer Ackerfield (below)
Flora of Colorado by Jennifer Ackerfield
National Resource Conservation Service Colorado Forb and Grass Seed Collection Guide
National Seed Strategy for Rehabilitation and Conservation 2015-2020
Native Plant Network a project of the United States Forest Service
Native Plant Revegetation Guide for Colorado:
Project Wingspan: Landscape Enhancement for Imperiled Pollinators Seed Collection Manual Pollinator Partnership at Pollinator.org
Seeds of Success: Bureau of Land Management Technical Protocol for the Collection, Study, and Conservation of Seeds from Native Plant Species, part of the national Native Plant Materials Development Program.
Society for Ecological Restoration Native Seed Film Native Seeds Supplying Restoration
United States Forest Service: Collecting Native Seed
University of Idaho Native Plants Guide : many are native to Colorado as well or related. Check with Flora of Colorado by Jennifer Ackerfield (see above). This searchable and downloadable spreadsheet features these categories: Scientific Name, Common Name, Flowering Time, Easy to Grow or Not, Bloom Color, Lighting, Watering Requirement, Mature Height, Value to Wildlife, and miscellaneous Notes (tall or low-growing, rhizomatous, woody, etc).
