Join the snow seeding activity at Pierce Butler Meadow

Invitation to try snow seeding

Community members are gathering at Pierce Butler Meadow on February 19th at 1pm to do some snow seeding- a sowing technique where seeds are tossed onto the snow’s surface before spring arrives. Folks interested in this process are welcome to join and help at this drop-in event! Send a message via this contact page if you have questions or want directions to the site. (parking or walking there can have its challenges, especially in winter). If you plan to come, dress for the weather including snow boots so you can wade deep into the meadow

What is snow seeding?

This is a technique where seeds of hardy plants, such as native pollinator plants, are spread on top of the snow during the winter. The dark colored seeds absorb some warmth and melt into the snow. Here, the seeds get the needed days of cold dormancy that help break open seed coats. Later, as spring thaw happens, the seeds can take advantage of the season’s soil moisture and germinate. If you have a lot of seed, this is the low cost way to propagate native plants. Prairie Moon has some good information about snow seeding here. This method can be used sometimes for hardy cover crops or veggies too.

Where are we getting seed?

For the past 2 seasons, stewards of Pierce Butler Meadow have been harvesting seed from nearby native plant gardens. This allows the seed being propagated for the Meadow to be well adapted to growing in our city. Seed keeping relies on people-power to collect, process, and save seeds for our community; as opposed to purchasing them from other non-local sources. Not only are we optimizing genetics, and community engagement with this approach, but also species diversity. Typically, we are able propagate 40-60 different native plant species using saved seed; this number of species would be costly to purchase! For a difficult right-of-way location like Pierce Butler Meadow, the hope is that introducing a high diversity of species will allow the right plant colonies for the conditions to establish themselves.