Diario del proyecto MNSEED Native Plant Community Science Project

Welcome to the MN SEED Native Plant Community Science Project. An exciting opportunity that helps gardeners identify, track, and learn to save seed from their native plantings and then propagate new plants in the coming season. Minnesota State Horticultural Society in collaboration with the Saint Paul Seed Circle, Como Community Seed Library and with generous funding from a Capitol Region Watershed District Partner Grant is offering this special initiative during the 2021 growing season.

Native plants are especially adapted to their region and support a wide range of wildlife while also improving soil, air and water. Native plants also typically produce an abundance of seed that can be saved and shared gardener to gardener.

Through the MN Seed Native Plant Community Science Project gardeners will have access to:
-Online webinars on native plant identification and plant family characteristics, how to use the citizen science app iNaturalist, and later in the season how to propagate new plants for collected native seed hosted by the Minnesota State Horticultural Society
-The MN Seed iNaturalist project, a free citizen science app based project that will help gardeners identify, track, and evaluate their plantings.
-Seed Collecting and Processing events
-Seed Swaps to share the collected seed at the end of the growing season.

Residents and gardeners who live in the Capitol Region Watershed District boundaries and who sign up for the project will be provided with bonus tools and discounted access to the webinars!

If you’ve navigated here and joined this project then you’ve taken your first steps in using iNaturalist to document your garden or stewarded plantings. Below are a few iNaturalist resources for you to check out.
iNaturalist video tutorials on Vimeo
MN SEED Native Plant Community Science Project iNaturalist tutorial youtube playlist.

If you missed the Native Plant Identification Class you can watch a recording at the following link.
Karin talks about plant families and other hints for plant ID. Plus the resources she shares are excellent guides with lots of photos. https://youtu.be/FXGokfiED8E

Class description:

Native Plant Identification
Instructor: Karin Jokela, Farm Bill Pollinator Conservation Planner & NRCS Partner Biologist

Curious what that plant is and want to know how to find out? We will cover how to identify native flowers and grasses using basic characteristics of plant families and their growing conditions. This is a great class to take if you have always wanted to know how to tell the difference between a sedge and a grass, the differences between Blazing Stars and Beardtongues, White Snakeroot and Boneset, Coneflowers and Coreopsis.

This class is the first in a series done in partnership with the Capitol Region Watershed District to help residents identify and inventory their plants to save seeds to share with others and increase the biodiversity and populations of native plants. Learn more at https://northerngardener.org/mn-seed-project/

Aired on Tuesday, May 11, 6:30-7:30 pm

iNaturalist Orientation Next Thursday!

Learn how to use iNaturalist to help ID your rogue raingarden plants or inventory your native plantings. Knowing what you are growing is the 1st step in seed saving. This mobile tool is a super garden partner to amplify your pollinator plantings. Online class on May 27th at 5:30pm. Register here for Free! https://mshs.z2systems.com/np/clients/mshs/event.jsp?event=399

Instructor Britt Forsberg, Program Coordinator for the Minnesota Native Bee Atlas

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Also! Save the date: June 22nd 6pm-7:30pm
We are planning a in-person, Practice Identification Garden Gathering at Horton Park in St. Paul. More details to come.