The garden is winding down, but the next generation of native plants is ready and waiting. Late October is prime time to get out and collect seed from native plants. Grab some paper bags and head to your yard, a favorite park, or a friend’s meadow (with permission, of course).
Many of these plants are trailing off for the season, so the sooner you head out, the better. Below is a guide to what is ready, what to look for, and how to collect it, starting with wildflowers, then grasses, then shrubs and trees.
For more detailed information, see our October Seed Collection List.
🌼 Asters & Goldenrods
Look for fluffy, gray-white seed heads. If the florets have gone to fluff, you’re in the window. Collect on a dry, sunny afternoon so the seed isn’t damp, and strip the fluff gently into a paper bag.
- New England aster: Fluffy, tufted seed heads that release easily once dry.
- Smooth blue aster and sky blue aster: Smaller, drier heads. Check that the fluff is loose before you collect.
- Aromatic aster and calico aster: Fine, wispy seed heads that go quickly, so check them early.
- Canada, stiff, showy, gray, and zigzag goldenrod: Plumes turn fuzzy and gray when ready. Run your hand along the stem and the seed will come off in a cloud.
🪶 Other Fluffy Seed Heads
These are releasing now, with feathery seed that is easy to rub free. Most of them are trailing off for the season. Many stands have already dispersed, and a windy day can clear what’s left, so grab them before the wind does.
- Blazing star (Liatris): Feathery seed heads that release easily. Collect as soon as they fluff.
- Ironweed: Rusty, fluffy heads that go to seed all at once.
- Joe Pye weed: Large, dry, fuzzy flower clusters. Shake or rub them into a bag.
- Boneset: Dry, fluffy clusters that are on the verge of releasing.
- Thimbleweed: Cottony, thimble-shaped heads are ready once they turn fluffy and dry.
🦋 Milkweed
Pods that are splitting open or turning brown and dry are ready. Pick them just as they begin to crack, before the silk carries the seed off on the wind. If a pod is still green and firm, leave it for another week.
🌻 Coneflowers, Silphiums & Helianthus
These are ready once the heads are dark, dry, and brittle. Birds love them too, so leave plenty behind.
- Purple coneflower: Cones turn dark brown and spiky. Rub them over a bag to loosen the seed.
- Yellow (gray-headed) coneflower: Tall, dark cones that crumble when dry.
- Black-eyed Susan and brown-eyed Susan: Small dark cones. Shake or crush them into a bag.
- Cup plant, compass plant, and prairie dock: Dry, papery heads with big, flat seeds that are easy to spot.
- Helianthus (native sunflowers): Ready when the heads turn brown and the seeds feel plump and loose.
- Rattlesnake master: Spiky, ball-shaped heads are ready when they turn dry and tan.
🌿 Mountain Mints, Monarda, Penstemon & Friends
Wait until the seed heads and capsules are dry and brown. The seed in this group is tiny, so a light touch goes a long way. Shake or crush the heads over a bag, then sift out the larger bits later.
- Mountain mints: Dry, clustered heads full of tiny seed.
- Monarda (bee balm and wild bergamot): Round, pom-pom-like heads. Shake or crush them into a bag.
- Penstemon: Dry capsules on tall stalks. Snip the stalks into a bag, and crush the seed heads if the seed doesn’t release on its own.
- Blue vervain and hoary vervain: Shake the dried spikes right into your bag.
- Culver’s root: Tall, dry spikes full of tiny capsules.
- Great blue lobelia and cardinal flower: Fine seed in dry capsules. Tip them over a bag and handle gently.
- Bottle gentian: Small capsules full of tiny seed. Best for experienced collectors.
🫛 Legumes
Collect pods once they turn dark and the seeds rattle inside.
- Wild senna: Long, dark pods that split to release seed.
- Baptisia (wild indigo): Black, rattling pods. Shake them or crack them open.
- Round-headed bush clover: Dry, dense heads with small seed.
- Tick trefoils (Desmodium): Worth a look, though the seeds will stick to everything you’re wearing.
🌾 Grasses
These are at their best right now. Run your hand along the stems and see what falls into your palm. If the seed comes off easily, it’s ready.
- Little bluestem: Fluffy, silvery seed heads along the stem.
- Big bluestem: Three-pronged “turkey foot” seed heads.
- Prairie dropseed: Small, round seeds that drop easily from airy sprays.
- Purple lovegrass: Fine, airy seed heads that shake loose.
- Indian grass: Golden, plume-like seed heads.
- Switchgrass: Open, airy seed heads that release easily.
- Side-oats grama: Seeds hang along one side of the stem like tiny oats.
🫐 Shrubs & Berries
Many shrubs hold their fruit into early winter, so there is still time. Fleshy fruits need the pulp cleaned off, and most do best when sown this fall or winter. Leave plenty behind, since birds depend on these berries all winter.
- Buttonbush: Seed balls are brown and dry and hang on well into winter. Shake or crush them into a bag.
- Winterberry: Red berries are at their best in October.
- Sumacs (staghorn, smooth, fragrant): Red fruit clusters hang on through winter.
- Wild roses (swamp and pasture): Hips are red and ready. Cut them open and clean out the seed.
- Viburnums (nannyberry, blackhaw, arrowwood): Look for ripe blue-black or red berries.
- Chokeberry (Aronia): Berries are ripe, and some stay on the shrub.
- Ninebark: Capsules have dried to brown and are ready to shake or crush.
- Bladdernut: Papery, inflated capsules rattle when the seed is ready.
- Hop tree: Papery, wafer-like seed clusters are ready to grab.
🌳 Trees
Nuts and acorns dry out fast, so sow or store them soon after collecting. Collect fresh ones from the ground, skip any with tiny holes, and toss any that float.
- Oaks (white, swamp white, bur, red, black, and pin): Acorns are dropping now.
- Shagbark and bitternut hickory: Nuts are dropping.
- Black walnut: Nuts are dropping. Wear gloves, since the husks stain.
- Tulip tree: Seed cones are breaking apart, so gather them before they scatter.
- Sycamore: Seed balls are ready to crumble. Gloves and a mask help with the fuzz.
- Redbud and Kentucky coffeetree: Pods are dry and brown.
- Hackberry, hawthorn, and basswood: Also worth a look.
🍂 Seed Collecting Tips
- Only collect from healthy, abundant stands, and take no more than a third of the seed.
- Use paper bags (not plastic) and label with the species, date, and location.
- Collect when seed is dry and comes off easily. Acorns, nuts, and berries are the exception, so keep those cool and moist.
- Always get permission on private land and check rules on public land.
🤝 Share the Harvest
Seeds you collect can support our Seeds to Community program and help put more natives into Wayne County gardens, schools, and neighborhoods.