From backyards to boulevards, native plants are popping up throughout Dakota County. The burgeoning interest from homeowners to include prairie species in their gardens, coupled with incentive programs, such as “Lawns to Legumes” -- has created a novel demand for native seeds and how to grow them. In partnership with Dakota County Parks, Master Gardeners are uniquely poised to help bring pocket prairies to local neighborhoods. As the tallgrasses and wildflowers turned to seed in the fall, volunteers and University of Minnesota Extension staff met in the county parks to operationalize those efforts.

Sam Talbot, then a University of Minnesota Extension Educator, joined two groups of Dakota County Master Gardener Volunteers (DCMGVs) in late-September to collect native plant seeds from restored prairies at Lebanon Hills and Whitetail Woods Regional Parks. The first group met at Lebanon Hills Regional Park’s Equestrian Trailhead and the other, at Whitetail Woods. In each location, the Master Gardeners—Jo Kapke, Pat Peschman, Roger Grabowski, Robert Hatlevig, Kathy Anderson, Janelle Rietz-Kamenar, Pat Ramel, Christina Libaire, Mary Beth Kufrin, Sue Light, Margie Blare, Katie Possis, and Marie Stolte—looked out over tall grasses that swayed hypnotically in a stiff wind. 

Sam explained that they were looking at some of the county’s earliest restored prairies. They were planted when restoration efforts allowed for seed to be sourced throughout the Midwest. Today, the county collects and uses native seeds from its own remnant prairies (or the seeds of those plants’ descendants) or buys native seeds from within 150 miles of Dakota County. The goal is to grow the same types of plants that have successfully supported local insects, mammals, and birds for thousands of years. 

Seed collectors should always have permission before collecting seeds from any site. Since the seeds from these older restored prairies aren’t used as a source for new restorations, DCMGV was allowed to collect them. Some of the gathered seeds would be cleaned and packaged, then placed in the Master Gardeners’ free seed library at Farmington Library for any county resident to grow. The rest of the seeds were grown in individual DCMGV homes over the winter and sold at the DCMGV May Plant Sale. Proceeds from the sale support 30 of DCMGV’s programs, including children’s and community gardens throughout the county; raingardens created in conjunction with the City of Mendota Heights; and a new vegetable garden grown cooperatively with the County Juvenile Detention Facility in Hastings.   

In the fall, it’s much more difficult to identify plants, especially after the flowers (and sometimes, the leaves) have faded and dried. And when many species of plants fill a prairie, it helps to know how high to look and what to look for. Sam arrived early and cut stems to show the seed-bearing structures with leaves and seed heads. Each stem stood in its own bucket, along with an envelope with the species name. He answered questions about plant height and where they might be found in the vast prairie, then explained that no more than one third of the seeds on each plant should be gathered. The rest would feed wildlife over winter or fall and potentially reseed. 

Seed shapes and sizes differ wildly. Cup plant’s seeds are roughly triangular and black with a brown ring around the edge; they are about an eighth of the size of a dime. Prairie cinquefoil’s are tiny as sesame seeds and white, with multiple capsules per stem. Wild bergamot’s almost invisible brown seeds sit loosely in hollow tubes that are packed together on a single seed head, just waiting for the wind to rustle and spread them. With a better understanding of what they were looking for, the DCMGVs headed out into the prairie. Each volunteer gathered one type of seed in a bucket, then took a different bucket to collect. 

At the end of the evening, buckets were emptied into envelopes. Sam brought all of the seeds to Lebanon Hills to dry. In winter, he hosted another DCMGV event to clean those seeds, removing chaff, leaving only the seeds for planting. “These events were such a great way to connect the Master Gardeners with the County’s natural resources,” Sam said, “and to explore our restored prairies through a completely different lens. I’m excited to continue our native plant conversations this winter as we discuss the next steps in the propagation process.”

Photo credit: Dakota County Master Gardeners (1,2), flickr.com (3), Courtney Celley/USFMW (4)