One of the best things about pollinator gardening is the connections that are built among people with the same commitment to creating beautiful, welcoming, and educational spaces while sustaining the planet. There are an abundance of ways in which this happens: educational walks, networking about best practices for growing and caring for plants, and collecting and sharing seeds.
Last autumn we collected seven different kinds of seeds: zigzag goldenrod, New England aster, large leaf aster, Joe Pye weed, common milkweed, swamp milkweed, Foxglove beardtongue, great blue lobelia. There were an astounding number of responses to our post on the Facebook Ontario Native plants page, and we wound up sending seeds to 36 people.
And…some got planted, some are being saved for next year, some didn’t come up, and some thrived and are now creating their own seeds to save and share. A really exciting and enriching way to connect with others and build more eco-friendly habitats.