Recap of Summer Events
We participated in lots of amazing events this summer, said hello to many incredible native plants in the wild, and collected a ton of seeds!
Wild Weekend on the Klamath: Native Plants & Pollinators at Klamath River Club
Klamath River, California June 6-7, 2026
At the beginning of June we hosted a workshop with Pollinator Project Rogue Valley at Klamath River Club. It was a beautiful, catered glamping retreat along the mighty Klamath River and an opportunity for folks to learn about native plant garden and meadow establishment with Suzie Savoie and Luke Ruediger from Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds!
By day we toured the native plant gardens, hedgerows, seeded meadows, and riparian restoration areas. In the evening we enjoyed presentations by Tom Counts of Klamath River Club about the Klamath Dam removal project, Mitzi Wickman about the work of the Mid-Klamath Watershed Council and their use of seeds from these native plant gardens, Kristina Lefever about Pollinator Project Rogue Valley, and lepidopterist Dana Ross, about moths and the Siskiyou Crest Moth Project. We then held a moth night with Dana, and in the morning, after a night of glamping on cots in the cozy canvas tents or regular pop-up tents, we had a wonderful breakfast, shared more about the moths we saw the night before, and had an impromptu native grass identification session in the gardens. It was such a joyful, fun event of learning and exploration, and we were graced by the presence of a couple of monarch butterflies!
We talked about establishing, weeding, watering and long-term care and expectations of the native plant gardens, as well as appropriate species selection and more.
We looked at the riparian restoration work and native plantings along the Klamath River, and discussed the impacts of the McKinney Fire on the native plantings and on the property as a whole, and the fire resiliency the native plantings provided during the wildfire.
We enjoyed superb catered food by Chef Ryan. Yum!
We discussed native plant and invasive plant identification and weeded in the gardens and the seeded meadow habitat to remove invasive and non-native plants.
Lepidopterist Dana Ross, from the Siskiyou Crest Moth Project, gave a fantastic presentation about moths, and then led a moth night. There were so many incredible moth species, and it was so interesting to learn about what native plants they use, including the Achemon sphinx moth (Eumorpha achemon) (on the right in the photo) that uses native California wild grape (Vitis californica) as a larval host plant! There’s lots of wild grape at Klamath River Club.
Thanks to Pollinator Project Rogue Valley and Klamath River Club for helping to host this workshop, and Dana Ross for his expertise!
Native Seed Collection Workshop at Siskiyou Field Institute
Deer Creek Center – Selma, OR – June 13, 2026
In mid-June Suzie Savoie from Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds led a native seed collection workshop hosted by Siskiyou Field Institute at their Deer Creek Center in Selma, Oregon.
Course participants helped collect seeds from 22 different species, and looked at many more species that had either dropped their seeds already, or the seeds weren’t ripe enough to be collected yet. Participants took a little bit of seed home with them, but we left the bulk of the seeds for Siskiyou Field Institute to use in their habitat restoration projects on site.
The course covered the ethics and legal considerations of native seed collection, identifying plants when they are producing seeds, seed collection tools and techniques, seed collection timing, as well as how to use and apply native seeds in gardens, habitat restoration, pollinator projects, native seed farming, and more!
Thanks to Siskiyou Field Institute for hosting this workshop!
We also took part in Oregon Pollinator Conservation Day at OSU Extension in Central Point on August 15th, which was an amazing event sponsored by lots of great organizations and businesses that had excellent speakers. Suzie gave a presentation at this event: Grow Native Plants for Pollinators from Seed.
We have spent many, many days out in all weather conditions collecting seeds from dozens of different species of native plants this year. Seed packet sales are already picking up in anticipation of fall seed sowing, and it looks to be a very busy fall ahead!