Native Plant Seed Goodness in 2021 with MnSEED

“I loved seeing and experiencing mature plants in their natural state. I loved experiencing this joy with other people, in person. I loved receiving these seeds, to enjoy their plants for their easy-care beauty, to improve and preserve my soil, to improve wildlife habitat, and to keep my runoff clean.” - MnSEED participant

The power of native plant seeds

One of my delights of 2021 has been the MnSEED Community Science Project which connected the power of seeds from native plants with the gardening community and local growers. I had the great fortune to collaborate with the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, the Como Community Seed Library on this effort, and in particular, I am ever so grateful for teammates Courtney Tchida and Dawn Lamm. Our activities were sponsored by the Capitol Region Watershed District, and extra focus was given to events and activities within watershed boundaries. I extend the gratitude to all the wonderful seedkeepers who engaged with MnSEED this season to identify, save, process and share seed from native plantings. Our collective actions yielded 67 different native plant species collected, which amounted to 249,000 seeds worth more than $1,000! Having these seeds available for current and future programs, seed swaps and participants is a huge asset for our work going forward.  

So many seed events!

Gatherings to learn, identify plants, harvest seed, and process seed were the hallmark of the season. In addition, MnSEED offered webinars and a distanced seed swap! Eleven events occurred in 2021 with nearly 600 people in attendance. Attendees had this to say:

“It was incredibly helpful to have someone explain what I'm looking at and answer questions.” - MnSEED participant

“Got me more and more excited about collecting seeds and sharing seeds.” - MnSEED participant

“That there is a huge community looking to help native plants thrive thus helping pollinators thrive.” - MnSEED participant

“Taught me what to be looking for in my plants. The event I attended was also very relaxing, something I really needed!” - MnSEED participant

A continuous seed keeping cycle

You can continue the hyperlocal native plant seed-keeping cycle by joining MnSEED at anytime, or checking out the online resources the project has collected or by using iNaturalist to identify and track your native plants.

Native plants are especially adapted to their region and support a wide range of wildlife while also improving soil, air and water. Native plants also typically produce an abundance of seed that can be saved and shared gardener to gardener. This is why saving native plant seed is such a powerfully resilient act! Locally collected seed saved has already made their way into the hands of individual growers and into Winter Sowing kits used to propagate new plants for the community supported natural area called Pierce Butler Meadows. The bounty of 2021 will continue this cycle!