Sowing Seed for Next Year

There are few things more optimistic than planting seeds. There has to be a little faith in the future to do so and an almost childlike belief that a reward awaits the patience required. As a new cold front approached this morning, I used my time to plant some of the seed I've been collecting from my landscape over the past several months. I'm only about 1/3 done as I have so many more species to sow. 
Some of my friends grow plants from cuttings, but I refuse that route. For one, a cutting is genetically identical to the parent plant and a landscape of cuttings thus becomes a monoculture. Whether that's a monoculture of natives or not, it doesn't seem to me to be the best solution to creating a living landscape, but to be honest, I grow my plants from seed because I enjoy it more. To me, the anticipation of waiting for seeds to sprout is along the same lines as waiting to unwrap presents or watching the mail as a child to see if the prize I earned from collecting box tops would arrive. As an adult, the eager anticipation of youth is hard to come by. I find it in planting seeds.
Over the next few weeks, I'll go out daily to see if any of the seedlings have emerged. Some will likely germinate in a week or two, but a good many will take more time. Some need a period of chilly temperatures even though they are native to this central Florida latitude. The purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) is one of those. Even though a few seeds may sprout early, more than 75% won't emerge until late spring of 2020. I used to give up too soon on these types of wildflowers. I've learned patience in my more mature years. My mother should have witnessed this, but that's another story...
I started Hawthorn Hill because I am a bit eccentric and I wanted plants in my landscape that I discovered in books and in hiking Florida's natural areas that just weren't being grown commercially. So, as I traveled about, I'd look for those plants, and make notes as to when they might be in seed. Then, I'd return and collect a few. Or, I'd find a friend who could share a plant with me. I'd then plant them and collect seed from my own plants to develop my landscape with.  It was at that point that I realized that I often had more plants than I could use. I got a license and I started making these available to other eccentric gardeners like me.
Over the years, some of my early species have been taken up by the commercial native plant nurseries and I find satisfaction in that. It leaves me more room for new species that are still not being propagated to any real degree. If we are going to make a difference with our own landscapes, we need this diversity. There are 17 native blazing stars (Liatris spp.), for example, 21 species of goldenrods (Solidago spp.), and more than 30 native asters in the Symphyotrichum genus. There should be more than 3-4 species commercially grown of each.
With a little luck. I will have 40-50 wildflower species available by this coming spring. A few of the asters will first go into my own landscape and the surplus will show up for my Spring and Fall Open Houses.  I will be writing about the Spring one here as I see how my plants progress, but I also will be posting it to my Hawthorn Hill Wildflowers Facebook page as well. Friend me there if you wish.

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