Sowing Seeds for a New Year

Greetings Watershed,

Happy New Year! We hope you’re doing well as we make our way into 2025.

This time of year around the nursery, we’re nuts about acorns, seeds, buckeyes, and more as our seed starting for this fall’s contract-grow projects gets under way. Our production tables are quickly filling with tubs of Quercus acorns and treepots of Aesculus buckeyes (hillium/scar side down), and the first few true leaves of annual wildflowers start emerging in our garden beds from the seed scattered throughout them this past fall.

It’s a beautiful time of year to appreciate all the energy and information that plants store in their seeds, and to say thanks for all the hard work our wonderful propagation staff do to get them growing! 

Winter is when we sow the majority of our recalcitrant seeds–this type of seed cannot be dried, and needs cool storage or immediate planting to germinate successfully. Think of Quercus species, Aesculus californica (above), and some Acer species. 

Fleshy fruits like Heteromeles, Cornus, Prunus? These are considered orthodox seeds–seeds that can be stored once dry. Wildlife that eat these fruits help digest and remove the flesh or pulp, and then the seeds receive a bit of fertilizer on their way out of the digestive tract. In a nursery environment, our treatment of these seeds looks different–a combination of scrubbing tools, a power washer, and a food processor with plastic blades help us to achieve clean seed. 

Right, from top- Frangula californica before and after cleaning

There’s also non-fleshy orthodox seeds–they still need to dry, but don’t have nearly as messy of a journey to be prepared for sowing–think of many of our annual wildflower seeds. We dry and remove any chaff with screens or by winnowing – using a fan or wind to blow off the chaff from the seeds. These seeds can then be stored for years in dry cold storage.

But wait, won’t the birds/squirrels eat all the seeds? 

It’s possible! You know your garden and your neighborhood critters. Have prior seed starting efforts seemingly disappeared into the ether? You may want to try starting out planting seeds in a container, inside at a sunny window, or under some screening (this is a great way to reuse a strawberry quart or a milk carton).

Around the nursery, we use lightweight netting or screens (right) to shield tasty seeds and young, tender leaves from birds during the winter and early spring. 

That said, many seeds can survive digestion by birds and mammals, especially fleshier, harder coated seeds like Heteromeles, Rubus, or Frangula. In fact, some Rubus species germinate better after an acid treatment to mimic this digestion!

If you’d like to try your hand at seed sowing, check out our California Native Wildflower Seed Packets, pictured below! We carry six mixes, in 2 gram packets, for $5 apiece. Larger packets can be made with advance notice.

*Please note, Yellow Bush Lupine (Lupinus arboreus), included in the California Native, Bay Area Native, and Blue and Gold Mixes, is not suitable for planting north of Sonoma County, and is considered invasive in Humboldt County and farther north. Please plant responsibly!

Of course, one of the challenges of sowing seeds is making sure you know what’s growing once it’s coming up!

Here’s a handy photo guide to young seedlings of some of the most common forb species in California.

Sources:

• The Woody Plant Seed Manual – US Forest Service
• Propagating California Native Plants – California Native Plant Society
• Silverstein, R. P. (2005a). Germination of native and exotic plant seeds dispersed by coyotes (canis latrans) in Southern California. BioOne Complete. https://bioone.org/journals/the-southwestern-naturalist/volume-50/issue-4/0038-4909_2005_050_0472_GONAEP_2.0.CO_2/GERMINATION-OF-NATIVE-AND-EXOTIC-PLANT-SEEDS-DISPERSED-BY-COYOTES/10.1894/0038-4909(2005)050[0472:GONAEP]2.0.CO;2.short 
• Springer, T. L., & Thacker, E. T. (2017). Apparent seed digestibility and germination of seeds after passage through the digestive system of Northern Bobwhite (colinus virginianus). BioOne Complete. https://bioone.org/journals/The-Southwestern-Naturalist/volume-62/issue-3/0038-4909-62.3.193/—-Custom-HTML—-Apparent/10.1894/0038-4909-62.3.193.short 

‘Bee’ Well and Happy New Year from all of us at

The Watershed Nursery Cooperative!