Happy October, Gardeners!
All I’ve wanted to do this past month is get outside and harvest some seeds! In addition to the western bleeding heart, grape hyacinth, and California poppy I harvested earlier in the year, I recently collected lavender, allium, chive, peony, and zinnia seeds. In the library’s garden I harvested another kind of lavender just today (9/26/26) and during the summer was able to harvest some big-leafed lupine, California poppy, as well as Farewell-to-Spring. You will be able to find these seeds in the seed library as soon as I am able to finish processing them.
Last year, I attempted to save seeds from the dogwood tree in front of the library, but with no experience and a lack of bandwidth to dive deeper, I abandoned my collection. I bring this up because I recently learned through the Portland Tree Project that dogwood fruit is edible and is also called kousa dogwood berries! Read this blog post to learn more:
Kousa Dogwood Berries: A Hidden Culinary Gem
It is probably no surprise that I am subscribed to several OSU Master Gardener Extension newsletters. In the Clackamas County newsletter they highlighted sowing native seeds, and I wanted to share this resource with you as fall is a great time to start certain varieties.
Sowing Native Flower Seeds - a PDF
What seeds have you been able to save this year?
