Within each tiny seed lies a story.
It’s a tale of survival, growth, and perseverance. When we harvest seeds in the fall and plant them in the spring, we’re passing down these stories of resilience from one generation to the next.
We love the abundance of seeds during this season. It always gets us thinking about who we can share them with and the story they’ll share in years to come.
This year, Oudolf Garden Detroit is sharing some of their seeds with Pitchford Park Public Gardens. It’s as if this grand public garden is cheering on the smaller gardens of Pitchford Park on by passing on these seeds.
These tiny gifts have the potential to grow into happy, thriving gardens, uniting our community and keeping this knowledge of seed saving safe for the future.
In our urban gardens, we’ve been on a quest for order, cleaning up our beds in the fall and clipping back spent blooms. All this focus on tidiness means that we’re not leaving seed heads where they are so they can fall into the soil and sprout next season. We’re pulling these stories away from their parent plant instead of giving them the opportunity to emerge resilient and ready to rock.
These tiny gifts have the potential to grow into happy, thriving gardens, uniting our community and keeping this knowledge of seed saving safe for the future.
In our urban gardens, we’ve been on a quest for order, cleaning up our beds in the fall and clipping back spent blooms. All this focus on tidiness means that we’re not leaving seed heads where they are so they can fall into the soil and sprout next season. We’re pulling these stories away from their parent plant instead of giving them the opportunity to emerge resilient and ready to rock.
In the last few weeks, Jen’s milkweed pods have been bursting open, revealing silky parachutes that carry seeds to new corners of her gardens. It’s always fascinating to see where the breeze will carry these seeds. Jen got to learn a lesson from Mother Nature on where she needs to have more milkweed.
Have you ever tried growing from seed? Some gardeners find it intimidating, which might be due to them not fully understanding what seeds need to sprout. We’re often looking for instant gratification – ‘I’ll plant this seed, and it’ll sprout right away!’ – but like any new life, seeds have specific needs in order to transform from seeds to buds. Sure, seed planting takes a little longer, but it can result in a more resilient plant. The roots will have a stronger opportunity to establish and have plenty of space to grow, instead of being restrained by pots.
As we are learning what seeds need, we can look to nature. Oak trees drop their acorns in the fall, just as Jen’s native echinacea purpurea, swamp milkweed, and butterfly weed do in Southeast Michigan. This is because they all benefit from a natural process called cold stratification, where exposure to winter’s chill prepares the seeds for the growing season ahead. By shedding seeds now, they’re getting ready for the next cycle of growth. Learn more about the cold stratification process in our blog post on seed starting.
Milkweed seeds follow the same pattern. When we plant milkweed in the spring, we often won’t see much growth until the following year, after they’ve gone through that essential cold period that breaks dormancy. Once we understand these natural processes, it becomes clearer how and when to plant for successful germination. Again, Mother Nature is a great teacher.
The impact that seeds make in comparison to their tiny size is hard to ignore. As you gather your harvest this fall, which stories will you help pass onto the next generations?
Until next thyme,
My Thyme Gardens