Over the past two months, I’ve been working with Master Gardener and Master Naturalist volunteers to sort, clean, and package seeds of native plants we collected from pollinator gardens in the fall. We plan to give away these seeds at local programs that focus on supporting pollinators. It’s always a fun time getting together and chatting about the different types of plants we collected from and how their seeds differ so much from one another. We mostly collect seeds from wildflowers but also collect seeds of native grasses.
Grass seeds develop in the spikelet of a grass, which is the flowering unit. Spikelets have many parts and pieces, and for identification purposes I usually avoid going in depth on spikelet details to eliminate the need for a microscope.
But even without a microscope you can see visual differences in the spikelets of grasses – some are larger than others, some have soft hairs while others are smooth, some have awns or bristles, and some are even brightly colored.
With the weather warming up, you might be ready to get started with planting. When it comes to grasses, should you start from seed or a potted plant? There are pros and cons to each approach.
Starting from seed
Seeds are less expensive than potted plants, so if you are planting over a large area, they can be a great economical option.
Many seeds of native plants need to undergo a pretreatment process called cold stratification to aid in seed germination. Cold stratification is a process in which the seeds are exposed to cool, moist conditions for a period of time in order to break seed dormancy. If you think about fall and winter weather conditions in Illinois, this happens naturally outdoors. You can spread your seeds in the fall or winter to allow this process to happen naturally, or you can mimic it in the refrigerator. If plants need this pretreatment it is often indicated on the seed packet, along with the number of days the treatment is required (usually between 30 and 60 days).
Some examples of grasses that require cold, moist stratification are Porcupine Grass, Purpletop, and American Beakgrass. Big Bluestem, Side Oats Grama, Bottlebrush Grass, and Switchgrass are examples of grasses that do not need a pretreatment to germinate.
Starting from seed also requires patience! Some grasses grow faster than others, and it can take several years for grasses to readily establish and grow to their expected sizes.
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Photo Credit: gettyimages-zoran-zeremski
Categories: Illinois, Crops