by Marsha Gebhardt
President, St. Louis Chapter
The November Gathering – Fun with Seeds – was extremely successful. Members played a game of identifying seeds in a variety of attractive arrangements, took a close-up look at some seeds under a binocular microscope, enjoyed snacks and drinks, happily claimed exciting door prizes, and – of course – chose packets of seeds from among MANY varieties collected and provided by other members.
Now…what to do with those seeds collected in our gardens and from our November seed-exchange?! The general rule of thumb, for most seeds, is that they need to spend about three months outdoors, starting in December or January. For information about how to sow native seeds, in the ground or in pots, check out some or all of the outstanding regionally produced resources listed below.
Recent DIY blog post by member Pam Hanson, Milk Jug/Winter Greenhouse Sowing for Native Plants: https://stlwildones.org/milk-jug-winter-sowing/
GrowNative!’s Seed ID, Collection and Stratification webpage, which includes specific stratification strategies for 40 common natives:
https://grownative.org/learn/seeds/
Shaw Nature Reserve’s Native Plant School’s Native Seed Propagation Methods, giving in-depth information, including what seeds from specific species need: https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/Portals/0/Shaw%20Nature%20Reserve/PDFs/horticulture/Propagation.pdf
