posted: Jun 28, 2008

Seeds are beginning to ripen and that means the collection season has begun!  Every plant is different and therefore we must devise different ways of collecting for every species.  It is important to get to the seeds prior to excessive bug damage or shattering (which means that the plants have dropped their seed).  Sticky purple geranium and lupine species have proved to be a particular challenge.  Sticky purple geranium has a catapult mechanism that flings the seeds from the plant.  Each flower has 5 "flingers" and they can all launch at separate times.  It is a very cool dispersal trait but it makes collecting the seed a challenge.  Hot weather can really make them pop as they dry out so it is difficult to gauge how to maximize collection without  harvesting too early.  Lupine are in the pea family and have pods.  The insects get in these pods and have a feast.  For these two plants we obtained muslin bags from others in the native seed collection business.  We will place the bags over the flowers after pollination with the hopes that the seeds will drop into the bags and potentially minimize the insect damage.  We'll see!  These are two highly desirable and beautiful native plants so we hope that these bags will assist our efforts to bring their seed to you.
Stay cool!
-Brenda