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?
Upcoming Events
Promoting Salmon Habitat: A Small Woodland Owner’s Journey
What makes salmon such fascinating fish, what does healthy habitat look like for them, and how can small woodlands help?
You’ll learn the key elements of healthy salmon habitat, why small woodlands play an outsized role in stream and fish health, and pick up a few memorable salmon facts to share with others.
When: Tuesday, October 20, 6 - 7:30pm
Where: Zoom Webinar - Registration
Creepy Crawly Encounters
Dare to touch these tiny terrors? Sandy Bee City USA invites you to drop by to see, touch, and learn about a variety of insects like Dubia Roaches, Silkworms, Hornworms, Crickets, and more!
Call 503-668-5569 with any questions
When: Saturday, October 31, 12:30pm
Where: Community and Senior Center (38348 Pioneer Boulevard, Sandy)
Ice Age Blooms!
This piece is written by me in collaboration with Rick:
I am not sure why this article decided to pop up into my life 14 years after it was first published, but here we are: an ancient plant is brought back to life through cultivating tissues from fruits and seeds found in a ground squirrel's burrow deep within the Siberian permafrost. And when I say ancient, I mean over 30,000 years old! Considering my love of collecting and cultivating flower seeds, I had to share.
And speaking of squirrels, I think a scurry of squirrels, or perhaps a gaze of racoons, or possible an intermingling of both had a cherry party on the side of my house in the night because the other day I found hundreds of what look like cherry pits scattered in loose but obvious piles near my non-fruiting cherry tree! There was also a large pile of pine cones that had been gathered there (there is no chance they were dropped from a nearby tree because this location is pretty well sheltered from all the Douglas Firs in the neighborhood). I often see the squirrels playing under this tree from my kitchen window, but they usually bury their collections, and do squirrels even save cherry pits? Do racoons? For now, it remains a mystery.
Amazingly, that felt like a true ADHD tangent (SQUIRREL!), but the setup was too perfect to pass up. Back to the Ice Age plant:
Initial attempts to germinate the ancient mature seeds found in the burrow failed, but further attempts using tissues from the surrounding fruit were successful, and scientists found that there were subtle differences between the modern-day version and its resurrected ancient cousin--petal shape for instance, as well as color (see photos).
As interesting and groundbreaking as this individual case is, even more enticing, say scientists, “is that it might be possible, using the same techniques, to raise plants that are now extinct--provided that Arctic ground squirrels or some other creatures secreted away the fruit and seeds.”
Why Bats Matter for Clean Water
Finally, I could not let an October newsletter go out without some information on bats! Bat Week is October 24 - 31, and I am sharing the blog post Clackamas River Basin published on how bats help keep our water clean. Near the end of the post, they discuss ways to do your part to help promote healthy bat populations, and one to those suggestions is to report sick or dead bats. I recently found a dead bat in my backyard and got in touch with the Clackamas ODFW biologist to discuss it. I learned that they, and the Oregon Health Authority, do not typically test a single, dead bat for rabies if it has not come into contact with a human while alive. A single bat death is also not suspicious as, like all living beings, death is the natural conclusion of life. But if you find multiple dead, then that is suspicious. The reason I got in touch with our local biologist was because this bat seemed to have a white substance in her open mouth. I wanted to make sure there was no possibility of white nose syndrome. White nose syndrome is a fungal infection that is fatal and highly contagious to bats. You can see it as white on their face and nose, but it can also damage their wings. Thankfully, after sending in multiple pictures, we concluded that there was no sign of white nose syndrome, and I could either double bag her and put her in the garbage, or bury her. Since I am not convinced this poor girl did not pass away from rabies, into the trash she must go.
I do not mean to end this on a sad note, so here are some fun facts about the kind of bat I believe she was:
California myotis are microbats with tiny feet. They are acrobatic flyers that feed primarily on moths, flies, and other flying insects. I suspect it is them I see flying around at dusk. I get excited every-single-time that happens.
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