#native landscaping

Winter sowing is the act of planting seeds, particularly native northern plants and those that require cold stratification, in mid-Winter, rather than waiting for warmer weather 🌬🌧❄️

Winter sowing has several benefits ☃️✅️

-Best way to awaken dormancy from native/northern seeds that require 1-3 months of cold stratification and moist soil, especially those that need a false spring and then return to cold (as we're likely to have several of these in Zone 8b)

-Allows early germination and success of the strongest seeds most suited to your local environment

-When done in jugs or some other type of mini-greenhouse increases the temperature, and increases how early and vigorously seeds germinate

-Allows you to have many of your flowers, bushes, and fruit trees planted very early (mid-January to early March) so you can focus on annual food crops as your yard or greenhouse warm up

It's also a pretty easy process, mostly done with recycled materials! ♻️

The easiest way to winter sow seeds is to save excess plastic jugs - milk, juice, even vinegar bottles - anything with clear or slightly opaque plastic 🫙

1. Rinse out your jugs, use a wood burner/heated screwdriver/whatever is easiest to poke holes in the bottom

2. Cut them roughly in half, leaving a good amount of space in the bottom area

3. Fill with soil, ideally deeper and with slightly more starting nutrients than a typical seed mix - this will give you flexibility to let things grow in and not need immediate up-potting

4. Scatter your chosen seeds - prioritize wildflowers, native bushes/trees, fruit trees, and anything that says it requires cold stratification. Avoid hot weather annuals like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants that will suffer in the cold nights

5. Cover very lightly with soil and water deeply, since this is a pretty closed system you'll only need to water about once a week until real growth or warmth sets in

6. Label inside and out, then use tape to reconnect the two halves. Put lids back on to retain heat and humidity, if can't be found can use styrofoam, aluminum foil, or plastic wrap rubber-banded on

Winter sowing is an easy process that let's you get a headstart on planting, increases germination rates in native plants and wildflowers, and uses recycled materials to grow more food 🌱🫐🍎🪻🌿

Message me for any questions, I'll discuss troubleshooting and alternatives later this week 💚

Made my first concerted effort to start native plants from seed last year- collected a variety, potted them, and buried the pots over the winter so they could naturally stratify. Tragically, the squirrels got my sprouted kingnut hickory and burr oak (they must have thought they’d died and gone to heaven lol), but the smaller sprouts are doing well! First pic is brown dragon (aka Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum) and green dragon (Arisaema dracontium), but I don’t remember which pots are which. Other pics in order are northern spicebush (Lindera benzoin), wooly pipevine (aka Dutchman’s pipe, Aristolochia tomentosa, the only seed I bought bc I couldn’t find any wild ones), something I don’t remember what it is (was busy with work and didn’t label anything rip me), and some volunteer stout blue eyed grass (itty bitty native irises, so cute omg) in the bed next to the pots.

I’m pumped for these! Especially the pipevine! Hopefully they’ll all do well, I can give some to neighbors, and maybe we’ll get pipevine swallowtails! I’m a little puzzled more species didn’t come up though- basswood, beech, wahoo, american bittersweet, zigzag spiderwort, ground cherry, and blatternut are all unaccounted for. Blatternut is pickier, but the others shouldn’t be too hard to start? My pawpaw seeds will hopefully sprout in June or July, so maybe there’ll be some other late bloomers yet!

It's early February in Zone 8, and that means it's time to prepare seeds that require cold stratification to germinate!

Cold stratification is a period of 1-3 months of cold, damp conditions that many seeds need in order to recognize that conditions are right to come out of dormancy in the Spring. Many tropical plants, like most of our hot-weather annuals, don't need this treatment. However, many plants native to the Pacific Northwest require it in order to mimic their natural environment.

For cold stratification, think:

-🫐Native bushes (snowberry, oregon grape, serviceberry, etc)

-🪻Native flowers and bulbs (Lupine, camas, milkweed)

-🍎Cool-weather Perennials (strawberries, chives, some fruit trees)

Methods:

-🍁Fall sowing - Simply scatter the seeds where you want them to grow during the fall or winter, cover very lightly and don't plant on ice or snow. Can also plant in very early spring, but want 1 month minimum of very cold weather left

-🌬Dry refrigeration - Put the seeds in the fridge or outside (somewhere dry and in the shade!!) for at least 1 month

-🌧Wet refrigeration - Place seeds in a plastic baggy with a damp paper towel for 1 month, check for mold or rot

-❄️Winter sowing - Plant seeds in the late winter/very early spring in winter sowing jugs; we'll discuss this method more later this week!

I have a handful of seeds for sale LOCALLY (Willamette Valley) that need cold stratification, so need to be planted soon! Contact me if you're interested in some - $3 each

-Oregon Grape

-Serviceberry/Juneberry

-Italian Plum

-Agrimony

-Evening Primrose

-Purple Foxglove (2nd year blooming)

-German Chamomile

-Mullein

Got the last of the front ground beds seeded and covered in layered compost, manure, and straw today - the first round of greens planted a couple weeks ago are peeking up everywhere between the winter survivors 🌱🌱🌱

[ID: Above Pic, a garden bed with straw on the surface and rows of different types of kale and celery. Below Pic, a similar straw covered bed with parsley chamomile broccoli and yellow flowering mustard scattered throughout. Both beds have loose lines of string or wire stretched between tomato cages at the ends.]

I also seeded a handful of native flowers and edible greens in the area around the newly finished greenhouse, and covered them with some manure and straw as well to aid in germination. I'm excited to see an area that was a giant thistle of blackberries turn to flowers 💐

[ID: A 20' or so patch of cleared ground between a wooden fence and a greenhouse wall. It's been covered loosely with straw.]

These were free and still very young so none are available for sale - I'll give away and trade some to friends, neighbors, and local orgs rewilding habitats. I'll also make sure to save one of each (except the largest trees off to permanent destinations) to propagate scions from a couple times a year and be sure my local community and wherever I end up will be supplied with native landscaping options for years to come.

This is all possible because of free and nonprofit orgs working to make native landscaping accessible to everyone. Today's giveaway was hosted by Friends of Trees, who have locations and events throughout the states of Oregon and (I believe) Washington. Agrarian Sharing Network is another excellent resource that will be sharing free seed and fruit tree scions throughout the state in March!

Find out more at their website, and if you're out of reach of this program keep an eye out for similar groups local to your area!! Stay tuned for info on bare-root planting, and how to plant large shrubs and trees