The tradition of sowing native plant seeds between Christmas and New Year’s is alive and well here at the Peterson pseudo-nursery. Since late summer, I have collected seeds, placed them with moist soil in plastic bags, and stashed them in a refrigerator drawer, just waiting for this week. And I was particularly good at collecting this year! Look at this bunch of seeds waiting for sowing!
I prepped some soil, adding fir needles from the garden and some soil from under the Douglas fir that should have lots of mycelium in it!
Here are a few of the planted seed pots in their fancy gift bag covers.
The seeds include locally collected osoberry, Oregon grape, snowberry, native roses, Douglas asters, Puget gumweed, fleabane, dogwood, madrona, western columbine, western bleeding heart, vine maple, red alder, western red cedar, and others.
I love this tradition, as it celebrates native plants and gives me something to look forward to as the days start to lengthen. Some of the refrigerated seeds were already sprouting, including the Collinsia and Lupine seeds. They are so hardy, the refrigerator feels like spring to them!
If there are decent germination rates, I will be potting on seedlings madly for the rest of my days! I hope! That is my retirement dream!
I encourage anyone reading this to plant some native plants this week between Christmas and New Year’s to celebrate! Planting native seeds holds the promise of spring and the promise of healthy local ecosystems! Happy 2026!