JoAnne Skelly: Free plants

What gardener doesn’t love free plants? My favorite way of getting free plants is to collect seeds. I cut off the flower heads or seed stalks of desirable plants, winnow out the seeds, scatter them in the fall and finish by tamping them into the soil.

This past week I collected black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) seeds. They have been very successful in some of the more challenging areas of my yard. Originally, a couple of plants started from seeds that either blew in or were dropped by birds. After a few years of self-seeding, I now have dozens of plants.

Since I want to control where the new plants will germinate, I cut off the dried flower heads into a dry container. I was amazed at how many seeds fell out of the flowers into the bucket, all new plant opportunities. I will sow them where I want them to grow.

A couple of weeks ago, I cut off the flower/seed stalks of my Palmer penstemons to share with my friend, Kristen. These are the tall pale pink flowers with gray-green foliage often growing along the highways. These extremely hardy plants are perfect for my friend’s yard with its steep rocky hill with little soil. She can spread the seeds behind the boulders and should see a number of plants by next spring. They will reseed through the years, and eventually, she will have pink flowers with a lovely scent covering her hillside.

After cutting off the seed stalks, I put them into a paper bag, sealing it to keep the seeds inside. All Kristen will have to do is shake the bag to release the seeds from the stalks and then sow the seeds this fall. Or she could just throw the seed stalks in places where she wants the penstemons to grow. When I do that, I then step on the stalks to press their seeds into the soil for good seed to soil contact, which increases the likelihood of success. I don’t water seeds in. Nature will do that over the winter.

Recently, my friend Julie brought me two paper bags full of Rocky Mountain penstemon flower stalks. This is another hardy grower for challenging sites. I have a couple of areas with minimal irrigation where I’m going to sow the seeds and hope for masses of deep purple flowers next year.

I use paper bags rather than plastic to store seeds, so that mold won’t ruin them before I can plant them. I love to share and swap seeds with my friends.

JoAnne Skelly is Associate Professor & Extension Educator Emerita at University of Nevada Cooperative Extension. Email skellyj@unr.edu