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Can I start recently collected wildflower seeds now for fall?

11 years ago

I was out for a hike yesterday and found hundreds of prairie coneflowers (Ratibida pinnata) and Daisies (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum) growing along an open field. I also have Sweet Williams growing along a wooded lot and I was able to collect a few seeds from each.

I was wondering if there is anything wrong with starting them from seed indoors now and setting them out in late September so they can get established before the cold weather gets here.

I know that winter sowing would be an option as well as just starting them in Spring but the truth is that I really like starting seeds and watching them grow before I set them out. I have a small butterfly garden I am working on and it currently has Purple Coneflowers and Black Eyed Susans growing and I would love to add these to the collection.

Thanks

Comments (3)

dandy_line (Z3b N Cent Mn)
11 years ago
Well, up here I am still trying to get some of this years crop to germinate. I use July 4th as my cut off date. If things haven't germinated by then, it's over for this season.
You should be quite ok in your Z6 environment to start seeds now. But decide on a cutoff date.

By the way, your Chrysanthemums are not natives and considered invasive in a lot of areas.
wilsocn
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for the advice, dandy. You are right about the daisies. I wasn't aware of their weedy nature but read about them last night after already having posted this. I think I will just try and germinate some Shasta Daisies instead even though they are still not a native plant.

Thanks again for the help!
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The crinum by the ditch is a good example that others may also enjoy it, and would be saddened to see that one day, it disappeared. Of course, we can't stop someone else from doing it, so it might very well be us who have lost the enjoyment of seeing it. In my case, I had a recent situation about this, too. A neighbor's brugmansia grows on the outside of his fence, accessible by the sidewalk. Last fall, I had thought to snip off a branch or two and try to root them for my own plants, but I thought how the owner might feel to see his branches snipped off, even if I thought I was careful in making it inconspicuous. Well, a few weeks ago, I noticed that he had cut it all the way down to the ground. So now I regret not asking or taking a few small cuts. Of course, just because he got rid of it doesn't mean I had any reason to take some for my own, but it's definitely one of those situations where you think how you could have taken a bit of the plant earlier and no "apparent" harm would have been done. But often times, we think there is no harm, except for the fact of sometimes not asking the owner first, who might very well notice and exclaim, "Hey, someone cut my plants!"
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docmom_gw
11 years ago
You can always copy Mother Nature and toss any seed onto the ground as soon as it is ripe. A little clearing out of other plants and roughing up the soil to allow better contact with the soil once it rains/gets watered. You could also summer sow--which is just like wintersowing, with the milk jug, etc, but at a later time. The advantages of the container are: constant ambient moisture to improve germination and prevent drying out as fragile seedlings, avoidance of washing away in a torrential downpour, avoiding the seeds and seedlings becoming lunch for some hungry rodent, and the containers are labeled, so you know what is growing and can plant it where ever you like and move them in and out of appropriate levels of sunlight/cold, etc.

Happy sowing!

Martha

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