4 Reasons to Grow Native Plants From SEED

Growing native plants from seed is one of the best ways to get the most plants for your new garden. This is the first in a series of videos I'm making on seed starting with native perennials.

[lauripedersen]

If growing from seed opened a door for me, Winter Sowing blew the door completely off the hinges! I feel like a rock star every time any seed germinates. 😂

[makingfreely]

Giving away plants is my favorite part of native gardening. I have been blessed with a local native plant group. We do a spring plant swamp and fall seed swap. I left the seed swap this fall with 50 packets of native seeds for free.

[mrdkoser]

Omg, I love your hair! Your gardening is fun and practical, let's go!

[arnorrian]

I prepared 80 six-liter water jugs, will be starting winter sowing in them in a few weeks. Very excited!

[Javaman]

Hi Lisa, as a lifetime gardener I agree with all you say here. It's an honor to be a part of the magic of nature. One thing you hinted at at the end but didn't get into was saving seeds or collecting seeds from plants you see out in nature. Local plants for free, hard to beat that!

[erichowe]

Thank you for the inspiration! I usually buy plants, but now I am excited to try growing from seed!! Can't wait for the next video. You rock!

[awildapproach]

I'm so pumped! I love love love growing from seed. It is so satisfying. So rewarding. As usual, I love your video style and your positive attitude.

[SleepingCerberusASMR]

I keep buying seeds for plants I want to try even though I'm basically out of room. So much fun potential in each packet. I'll tuck them away somewhere! 😋

[trixx]

You are so funny and energetic. Thank you for that

[aalejardin]

There is just something so magical and miraculous about growing plants from seed. Many of the native plants do very well with winter sowing (I am sure you will get to that). In my zone 6b/7a NY garden winter sowing in milk jugs is truly set it and forget it. I'm looking forward to seeing whether what I planted out in the garden and wooded ravine last year has reseeded itself, which would be a double win. I am praying that your 2025 will be much better than 2024.

[limitlessends]

YAAAYYYY! Love your videos. They make me so happy when they hit my feed. 😄

[angelas]

Looking forward to this. I've purchased plugs from Native Prairie and potted shrubs/trees from a local nursery that carries a nice variety of natives, but my idea of seed-starting is to broadcast them in areas in Spring and hope for the best.

[jenhartman]

I agree, growing from seeds is awesome! I don’t mind anymore if the dog pees on some of the flowers, I can always grow more. lol

[fallensolidago]

This is an awesome channel. Really cool stuff!

I'm actually starting a lot of my own native seeds for the first time, so I was curious - do you ever have any problems separating out seedlings when you grow them close together in trays/bottles? Do they transplant well?

[ziptiefighter]

One mistake that "new-to-natives' folks make (including myself) is to select plants with names in "quotes". That's a red flag that that plant is not a native. It might be labeled as native or "nativar". Nativars can confuse newbies. At best, they are not as beneficial as true natives.

Also, most natives won't bloom in their first year. So patience is a virtue.
Yay for Prairie Moon Nursery. Most of my natives, grown from seed, came from Prairie Moon. Winter-sowing makes it easier.
Nice vid. Thankyou for helping spread good info 👊

[hakdov]

I'd like to see how you up pot your seedlings. I always find that to be my stumbling block.

[kimberlythompson]

Id like help with what soil planting medium to use, and cold stratification techniques. And which plants are most successful for first time seed planters, for success.

[michaelaholtz]

Can you share the local garden group you mentioned in the video? I have a feeling (spotted a video of a local park that I'm familiar with) we are from the same area. I would love to know what local nurseries or groups you would recommend. I am currently starting (#wintersowing) at least 12 varieties of natives and hope they succeed.

[Orinoor]

I have a lot of seeds, I direct sowed a lot and will be starting the rest in flats. Do you have good luck direct sowing? We have a lot of birds and it sort of seems they found my seeds on the ground and that's expensive bird seed...

[erichowe]

Have you had much success growing native seeds under grow lights, indoors? I'm contemplating doing this, but I'm hesitant.