By far, my favorite fall activity is seed gathering. Seeds are a true miracle of life. Jesus even used the miracle of seeds in his parable of the mustard seed. In my garden one teeny tiny orange trollius seed will sprout, grow a few feet high, and be covered with orange blossoms. Each one of those orange blossoms will end its life as a dry brown pod filled with dozens of tiny black seeds capable of producing a whole field of orange trollius in the right conditions. Orange trollius would take over much of our lawn if I let it, which I am often tempted to do. Unfortunately, the yellow trollius europaeus, or globe flower, does not spread by seed here in Alaska as easily as its cousin. Trollius europaeus seeds take an eternity to germinate so that plant is more commonly propagated by division. Other favorite perennial seeds I enjoy gathering are lupine, iris, poppy, siberian aster and columbine. I’ll often take perennial seeds gathered in the fall and spread them in different areas of my yard or alongside my long driveway before the winter snow arrives. Nature does the rest. 

Most annual seeds will need to be gathered and stored over the winter for spring planting. There are a few annuals that freely self seed like white alyssum. I love the fragrance of alyssum and how they complement other flowers so I usually have a lot around my yard. Every year I end up having alyssum show up in areas I didn’t intentionally plant which is always a welcome surprise. Marigolds, cosmos, nasturtium and pansy seeds are easy to collect and save for starting new plants in the spring. The seeds from one marigold flower can produce a few dozen plants. Some seeds can be collected before the seed pods turn brown like the nasturtium and marigold seeds.

Choose a dry day for collecting your seeds. After you collect seeds, spread them out to dry completely before storing them in an airtight container in a consistently cool and dark place. Your refrigerator is a good choice. Some perennial seeds, like lupine, can and should be stored in the freezer for better germination results. If any seeds become moldy or appear diseased, throw them away. 

Observe any plants you want to collect seeds from to determine when the seeds are ready. If you wait too long the plant may have already dispersed its seeds on its own. Some seed pods, like the lupine, will fling their seeds quite far when the pod dries and splits. The first time I brought lupine pods into our house I left them on a table, uncontained. One afternoon I heard a lot of popping and when I went to see what was making the noise I discovered lupine seeds flying around my dining room! If you collect lupine pods you should store them in a loosely closed bag until they split open. 

More than likely if you start collecting seeds you will end up with way more than you can use in your own gardens. Luckily, seeds in cute jars, envelopes or bags make great gifts for friends and family, especially with the holiday season approaching. In a world often consumed with unnecessary stuff and clutter, we could all use more flowers in our lives. 

Lessons Learned the Hard Way

The first summer after we moved to our current home I was excited to see what perennials we had in our yard. We had one flower that I absolutely loved. It was a small flower. Its bloom was about the size of a nickel and it was orange red...similar to a dandelion, but smaller. I had no idea what it was called, but I enjoyed it and I loved the little seed heads that appeared. I easily striped the seeds and rubbed them into places in my garden where I wanted them to spread. Oh, and spread they did, which was fine with me...until we took a trip to Denali National Park and visited the Murie Science and Learning Center. I was shocked to learn that the lovely orange red flower in my garden is considered a noxious weed, to be avoided. It has been several years and I’ve managed to bring the hawkweed under control in my yard. I no longer collect the seeds or encourage it to spread, but I can’t bring myself to eradicate it completely.

Questions From Our Readers

Question: Arctic Iris flowers. When am I supposed to pull off the seed pods? And do I cut back the Iris and how far down to the ground in the fall?

Answer: You do not need to remove the seed pods or cut back our native iris plants. No one cuts back the iris setosa growing prolifically on the Palmer hay flat fields or anywhere else they are found in the wild. The iris pods add beauty to your winter garden and the leaves provide a natural mulch. Siberian iris are naturally resistant to disease and pest problems so my answer is let nature do its job. In the springtime, when the iris leaves dry they can be easily raked away and added to compost piles. 

Question: I planted everbearing strawberries for my first time in a raised bed. How can I make sure they survive the winter? Will piling straw on them be enough?

Answer: It’s hard to ensure anything when it comes to protecting plants in our maritime climate. Because your beds are raised they will need more than the recommended 6 inches of straw, especially if the bed doesn’t get much snow cover. The straw should be secured with a light covering of spruce bows or secured netting. It is best not to cover strawberry plants until we’ve had a few hard frosts or around October 1st. I heard a lot of people lost their strawberries last year so protecting your new plants is a good idea.