November gatherings

The first serious cold snap has hit the Northeastern United States, and with the bone-chilling temperatures comes the realization that my garden is truly done for another season. Yet little reminders of what had once thrived hang on diligently: the seed heads of shriveled plants, lounging about the garden beds like lazy teenagers who sleep in. Only these slackers fail to irritate me. On the contrary, I gleefully clip and gather like a hardworking pilgrim each November, plucking and sorting, drying, and sharing.

I line up my paper bags (because plastic bags hold in moisture, which ruins seeds), place one variety in each (unless I want to intermingle plants in the garden beds next season, then I toss a few types together) and carefully label each cultivar. If I'm really on top of my game, I'll eventually transfer fully dried seeds into airtight containers, in late fall or early winter, but there's no guarantee this will actually get done. The holidays tend to throw me off more often than not, and the seeds in their little brown bags are easy to overlook. And, let's face it, I'm really not all that organized.

One thing I DO try to do, as I'm sorting and saving, is set some of my garden's bounty aside for the birds. Some of the best seeds come from the following plants:

Calendula: The edible petals are some of the easiest to harvest. I pluck them as soon as the blooms begin to fade, and dump them in that all-purpose paper bag to dry

Gaura: The reddish seeds fall easily from dried-out brown pods

Monarda: The easiest way to collect from this, the bee balm plant, is to crumble dried seed heads onto a paper plate, and scoop them up

Echinacea: Simply pull these cone flower seeds right off the upright heads

Perovskia: Clip the dried heads of the Russian sage, and shake carefully to dislodge seeds

Rudbeckia: Run fingers over dried seed heads to release tiny black seeds (have your bag ready to collect)

Sunflowers: Clip an entire head with a bit of stem and plant it in a bird-friendly place for a self-serve feeder

Millet: Consider providing this for the local bird population. Although it has little nutritional value, the hard shell grinds the seeds in the tiny bird gizzards, acting like a mill. It's ideal for their digestion. Like us, birds need fiber. Pennisetum glaucum "Purple Majesty" is a beneficial beauty

Lavendula: Let lavender stalks dry right on the plants--that's what goldfinches love best

Once I've gathered extra seeds for the birds, I'll place them right in my bird feeder. Also good: tying makeshift bird-feeding bundles onto nearby branches. I'll clip cone flower and black-eyed Susan, leaving three or four inches of dried stalk, which I'll bundle, secure together with twine, and hang upside down on tree branches. And if you're looking for a way to get the kids in on the action, find a nice big, round pine cone, coat it in a thin layer of peanut butter, and sprinkle the seeds on top: a nice Thanksgiving feast for our feathered friends.