Seed Collecting for 2023 is Already Underway….
Greetings MN SEED Project Community! It’s really great to see all your iNaturalist documentation of native plants and the animals they support as we transition from Spring to Summer. As early as it may be many of our early blooming native plants are currently setting seed. Are you collecting anything in particular? One of the plants that is currently setting seed with a very interesting dispersal mechanism is wild geranium. This plant like jewel weed or wild petunia has a spring type action that as the seed head dries it dehisces sending the seeds far afield to spread. A great way to capture these seeds is to enclose the seed head in an organza bag commonly used as a gift bag.
Another action to take now is to identify and tag plants that you would like to collect seed from in coming months. Along with making an observation in iNaturalist to mark its location you can also note what species it is while there is live plant material to observe. Later in the season when the plant material and seed head have dried down it can be difficult to differentiate between certain species like purple coneflower and pale purple coneflower or foxglove beardtongue and other native beardtongues. Tagging them while they’re in bloom ensures that you will have the correct identification for your plant. If you have any tips or methods for tracking and recording your plantings we’d love to hear from you. Just email MNSEEDProject@gmail.com with your information.
