Here at KSNS we have been getting seeds of a lot of the red-flowering and red-fruited species we carry back in stock. Western columbine, warrior’s plume, western thistle, wavyleaf paintbrush, Brown’s peony, red huckleberry, wax currant and more! For some of these species we have many packets available, while others we were only able to get a limited amount of seed, so they will sell out fast!

RED FLOWERS

The color red has a lot of cultural meaning and is used as a symbol for love, passion, and romance, as well as anger, war, danger, religion, spirituality, luck, good fortune and happiness. It is also the first primary color humans see as babies after black and white, and is one of the most vibrant colors humans see, due to its longer wavelength. Pigments of red have been documented in archeological evidence dating back to prehistoric times, and humans continue to use red to make an impact in many ways.

Most insects, on the other hand, don’t even have the photoreceptors in their eyes to see the color red. Humans see color on a spectrum from red to violet, but bees see on a spectrum of orange to ultraviolet — they have spectral sensitivities clustered near the ultraviolet, blue, and green regions of the spectrum.

Some insects only have two types of visual pigments, one pigment absorbs green and yellow light, and the other absorbs blue and ultraviolet color, and these insects are often unable to discriminate pure colors from mixtures of colors.

However, some insects like bees and many diurnal butterflies, have what is considered “true color vision,” because they have three visual pigments and can perceive a complete spectrum of colors, within their spectral sensitivity range, and can also see the difference between single colors and mixtures of colors, but the perception of ultraviolet color (non-spectral color) is really what sets them apart with their visual acuity. For instance, many flowers have evolved to have rings of ultraviolet color around the reproductive parts of the flower that are not visible to humans, but tell the bees exactly where they need to go. There is a lot more than meets the human eye! We cannot perceive all the color that many flowers display because we can’t see ultraviolet.

So what is the advantage of red flowers if many insects can’t see the color red?

Hummingbird pollination!

Unlike bees, hummingbirds see red even more clearly and vibrantly than humans do, due to a greater concentration of cone cells in the retinas of their eyes. Hummingbird eyes filter other colors (e.g. muting colors such as blue), making red hues brighter, and they can see ultraviolet colors as well. While hummingbirds will visit flowers of other colors with high nectar content, it is more opportunistic.

Meanwhile, flowers that are primarily pollinated by bees are rarely red because bees don’t see the color red; however, bees will still visit what looks simply like a red flower to humans, but it might also have some ultraviolet colors that we can’t perceive, but the bee can.

Conversely, many red flowers that have evolved to be pollinated by hummingbirds have long floral tubes that their long beaks can get into, but bee tongues are not long enough to reach the nectar; however, there are “nectar robber” bees that can chew holes at the base of the tube and get to the nectar that way, primarily without pollinating the flower.

The bottom line: Many pollinators don’t see red, so red flowers are primarily pollinated by hummingbirds that can, but some red flowers have ultraviolet colors that humans can’t see, that bees can see, and that is why we still sometimes observe bees utilizing red flowers. Whew! Insect color perception and flower color is a very fascinating, and complicated subject!

Red Fruit, Berries & Drupes

Fall is the time for collecting fleshy fruited seeds — and many of them are also red! During the end of summer and early fall we have a mad dash to keep up with collecting and cleaning fleshy seeds before they dry out on the plant, get eaten by critters, or get moldy. We prioritize cleaning these perishable seeds first and foremost this time of year, but we’re starting to get caught up as less and less fruit, berries and drupes are available as fall progresses.

It’s been a bumper crop year for Pacific dogwood (Cornus nuttalllii) seeds. This gorgeous spring-blooming shrub or small tree puts on clusters of drupes that have red flesh when the seeds ripen. Sometimes we’re lucky enough to find some seed clusters low enough to the ground that we can pull them directly off and into the collection bucket easily, but many times it requires a ladder to access them. We have a lot of Pacific dogwood on our land, so we don’t need to go very far to access it, as it is abundant in the canyon we live in, but we have to beat the critters to the seed too! We’ve been enjoying watching flickers dart in and out of the dogwoods as they nab some of these ripe, red seeds to eat! Pileated woodpeckers, grosbeaks and cedar waxwings also eat the red dogwood seeds.

Below are some featured red-flowered and red-fruited species currently back in stock. And you can’t forget red fall foliage too! Soon the vine maples will be displaying various shades of yellow to red as fall deepens and the colors grow more vibrant.

HAPPY FALL!

Aquilegia formosa-Western columbine

Castilleja applegatei – Wavy leaf paintbrush

Cercis occidentalis-Western redbud

Cirsium occidentale – Western thistle

Fritillaria recurva-Scarlet fritillary

Paeonia brownii-Brown’s peony

Pedicularis densiflora-Warrior’s plume

Ribes roezlii-Sierra gooseberry

Ribes sanguineum-Red flowering currant

Sanicula bipinnatifida – Purple sanicle

Acer circinatum-Vine maple

Vaccinium parvifolium-Red huckleberry

Actaea rubra-Red baneberry

Streptopus amplexifolius-Claspleaf twistedstalk

Ribes cereum-Wax currant

Solarization, tarping or occultation are good methods for site preparation for native seeding and planting. But what about all that plastic! It’s hard to say you’re doing something to benefit ecological function when you consider the amount of fossil fuels that go into manufacturing the plastic sheeting or tarps needed for solarization, tarping or occultation, not to mention the persistent and growing problem of microplastics in the environment. One solution is to repurpose old vinyl billboards for this purpose. Using old billboards repurposes something that would otherwise end up in the landfill. The following two sites offer used billboards: Billboard vinyls and  Billboard tarps.

Vinyl billboards are made to be used outdoors along roads and highways and to withstand harsh weather conditions. They are made of UV-protected and water resistant vinyl layers, with rip-stop nylon between the layers to prevent tearing. If you live in an area with lots of deer, this can be important. Deer and people can walk on this material and not tear it. It is durable for rural or high traffic areas.

Used billboards come in a wide variety of sizes. You can get white on one side, with the old ad on the other side, or black on one side with the ad on the other side — we prefer to use the used billboards with the black side on the back.

The used billboards are installed for site prep, with the advertisement side down, and the black side up, helping to control weeds over the summer before sowing native seeds in the fall. They must be kept in place for at least six weeks or longer, depending on the tenacity of the underlying vegetation. The longer the billboards are in place, the better.

The repurposed billboard is relatively heavy on its own, but you can use rocks, sandbags, bricks or other heavy objects to weigh down the edges.

Using old billboards is technically a form of occultation. Occultation is similar to solarization, but opaque coverings are used instead of clear. Black plastic actually absorbs light, and takes longer than solarization with clear plastic, which allows light and heat to penetrate. In some situation solarization with clear plastic may be a better option, depending on the current vegetation on site and the what weed seeds are present in the soil seed bank. Billboards can be reused over and over; whereas, clear plastic tends not to last as long and is more prone to tears.

We personally used an old billboard, with a jewelry ad on one side and black on the other side, to tarp an area where we had recently cut out non-native lilacs that had grown on our property since before we bought it. We’ve left the billboard in place over the summer, and without sunlight the lilacs have not been able to grow more than a few, spindly, blanched stems. It’s easier than digging it out, and preps the overall area well for native seeding by eliminating the competition and creating a nice, open area with exposed soil.

When not using old billboards for site preparation for native seeding or planting, they can also be repurposed and used like a tarp for other applications where a waterproof tarp is needed. Ideally vinyl billboards will be replaced by a more eco-friendly product in the future for advertising, but until then, and while there are, unfortunately, lots of them in the world, we might as well put the used ones to use for aiding native seeding and planting projects, and prevent them from immediately entering the landfill after just a few month’s use.

*Note: Tarping, or occultation does not effectively control field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensi). Other techniques must be used to control this specific species — yeah, don’t we know it, bindweed is difficult!

Suzie collecting Klamath plum (Prunus subcordata) fruit in the foothills of the Siskiyou Crest.

We’ve been busy out in the field in far flung places across southwest Oregon and northwest California, collecting seeds, and trying our best to keep up with seed orders, and get out-of-stock species back in stock! You can see a list of back-in-stock species at the bottom of this post. We’re happy to have round headed buckwheat (Eriogonum sphaerocephalum), Siskiyou lewisia (Lewisia cotyledon), heartleaf milkweed (Asclepias cordifolia), Cascade oregon grape (Berberis nervosa), giant trillium (Trillium albidum), Pacific hound’s tongue (Adelinia grandis), Henderson’s shooting star (Dodecatheon hendersonii), and golden currant (Ribes aureum) all back in stock this week, with much more to come as we keep cleaning seeds.

Luke collecting tarweed (Madia elegans) seeds in the Applegate Valley in southwest Oregon.

We aren’t able to stock every species we’ve offered every year, as we are at the whims of nature, and not every year is a good seed production year for every species. Some species only produce seed every few years, some only produce on dry years, some only produce on wet years, and every year is different. Sometimes we drive hours on back roads to collect seeds of a species that has a lot of people on the waiting list, and we might even be lucky enough to find that the species produced seed, and we collect a lot of material, but when we clean it down there’s hardly any good, viable seed. This is where seed collection can be difficult, and we can’t predict exactly what seed we will have every year, especially for some unreliable species. We encourage you to sign up for notifications for out-of-stock species so you will get an email when it is available again.

In this photo on the left, a path lined with the leaves of trail plant leads the way to collecting Cascade Oregon grape (Berberis nervosa) fruit in mixed conifer forest in the Siskiyou Mountains. The seeds in the fruit are separated from the pulp in the seed cleaning process, then dried down and winnowed. Cleaning fleshy fruit is a big part of our late summer seed cleaning schedule.

Sometimes we collect native seeds in brutally hot weather — that’s when many seeds are ready, and we can’t wait or we’ll be too late! We cover up and tough it out, and take a swim in the creek at the end of the day to cool off.

Part of the skill involved in seed collection is species identification after plants have passed their peak bloom time and have begun to senesce. Some small plants can be hard to find when they dry out, and even large plants can look quite different when the seeds are ready to collect. They may be completely dried out, withered, or deteriorated. We spend a lot of time getting to know this stage of plants so we can find them when we need to. It’s also important to keep good records of where we collect seeds so we can return in future years if the timing is right.

We hadn’t had a chance to collect seeds of round headed buckwheat (Eriogonum sphaerocephalum) for a few years, but finally made it back to a spot we’ve collected seeds at before this summer, and we have some limited seeds back in stock. (See below)

Round headed buckwheat (Eriogonum sphaerocephalum)

BACK IN STOCK!

We’re happy to have the following species back in stock as of today.

Eriogonum sphaerocephalum-Round headed buckwheat

Lewisia cotyledon-Siskiyou lewisia

Asclepias cordifolia-Heartleaf milkweed

Berberis (Mahonia) nervosa-Cascade Oregon grape

Trillium albidum-Giant trillium

Adelinia grandis-Pacific hound’s tongue

Ribes aureum-Golden currant

Dodecatheon hendersonii-Henderson’s shooting star

Featured Photo: Suzie Savoie from KSNS was recently featured on the cover of the Grants Pass Daily Courier’s July 2024 edition of their Home and Garden publication, with an accompanying article that highlighted recommendations for growing pollinator friendly gardens.

This summer many of KSNS’ long-term native seeding and planting projects have reached full maturity after years of growth, and some new ones are taking shape. We’d like to highlight some of the native seeding projects we have helped with in this blog to show the variety of applications where native seeds and plants can be used. Each site and project has its own site-specific conditions and situations to be considered: soils, slope, aspect, elevation, shade vs. sun, moist vs. dry, weed pressure, critter impacts (deer, turkey, squirrels, rabbits, gophers, voles etc.), long-term site maintenance, and unexpected issues that are always bound to come up.

It feels good to see some really slow growing species, like balsamroot, mule’s ears, lomatiums, etc., finally start to bloom and set seed in some of the longer term projects. It can easily take 5-7 years for some slow growing species to mature, so patience is a virtue with native seeding projects. Down the road you’ll be very happy you took the time and investment to sow native seeds—and had the patience! It pays off with beautiful blooms and pollinators!

KSNS native seeding project on a conserved private property on Mt. Ashland in its 8th growing season

This is how it looked when we started in 2016

Klamath River Club native seeding and planting project along the Klamath River in its 7th growing season

This is how it looked when we started in 2017

Troon Vineyard Native Plant & Pollinator botanical garden in the Applegate Valley in its 4th growing season

This is how it looked when we started in November 2020

Native seeding habitat restoration of an old cannabis grow site in the Applegate Valley in its 2nd growing season

The Klamath-Siskiyou region is riddled in old, backwoods cannabis grow sites. Many had turned previously wild or natural areas into agricultural zones that left behind invasive weeds and disturbed soils. The cannabis market has dwindled and many people are now wanting to restore these sites to native habitat. The so-called “green rush” left behind a lot of impacted areas, and we are thankful that cannabis can now legally be grown in agricultural zones, where it belongs, and the intact native habitats and backcountry areas can retain and restore their native plant communities. 

This is what the site looked like before we got started in fall 2022, with the old cannabis stalks still in place.

Ashland Mine Road native seeding project on berms, interspersed with planted native shrubs and trees, in its first growing season

This is how it looked when we started in fall 2023

KSNS Burn pile seeding project in the Applegate Valley, in its first growing season

We have been turning burn pile areas into wildflowers for 20 years on our own property, and we like helping others do the same. Many rural people burn debris for various reasons, and each burn pile is an opportunity to grow native plants! Most native plants are adapted to fire and their seeds germinate well in the ash and char left behind after a fire. Some plants have seeds that are triggered by the pH change after fire, and not from the direct heat itself, and a burn pile can help create that pH to aid seed germination. Burn piles also help clear the area of competing weeds, helping provide a nice space for little seedlings to grow without a lot of weed pressure. 

Small burn piles can be spread around and seeded when burning is completed and the area has cooled. Many small burn piles turns into a lot of wildflowers spread all around.

A large, hot burn pile can be turned into a cool and diverse native wildflower habitat.

KSNS will be part of a great lineup of local native plant focused events this summer in southwest Oregon! Come along to learn and have fun!

Tour the Troon Vineyard Native Plant & Pollinator Botanical Garden created by Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds

June 20, 2024 10am-Noon

A free event to see up to 94 species of native plants all in one beautiful location! Registration requested.

In December 2020 Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds installed a half-acre native plant and pollinator botanical garden at Troon Vineyard in the Applegate Valley. To date, 94+ species of native plants have been established in the garden, primarily from direct seeding, with some native planting from nursery plants. With paths and plant signs to guide you through the botanical garden, and views out towards the Applegate foothills and Grayback Mountain, the Troon Vineyard Native Plant Botanical Garden provides an easy and delightful place to learn about native plants, pollinators, and a demonstration about how to incorporate more native plants into the farm and vineyard setting.

Suzie Savoie of Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds will walk tour participants through the paths of the botanical garden, providing detailed information for various species along the way, including:

• Plant identification
• Plant habitat in the wild
• Pollinator ecology
• Plant propagation and establishment methods in the garden
• Plant care and at-home gardening recommendations

This field trip series has been amazing so far! We have led four of the eight trips, and each one has been so full of information and gorgeous flowers, interesting rare conifers, and wild views of the Siskiyous. There are four more trips to go this summer! Come join us! Registration is almost full for most of the remaining dates, so register soon!

This summer Suzie and Luke from Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds, along with other amazing local botanists, are helping lead 8 different field trips to visit all 25 conifer species that grow in the Siskiyou Crest region in southwest Oregon and northwest California.

We have coordinated the field trip series as a fundraiser for Applegate Siskiyou Alliance, a local conservation and advocacy organization that Luke is the executive director for.

This summer Suzie and Luke from Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds, along with other amazing local botanists, are helping lead 8 different field trips to visit all 25 conifer species that grow in the Siskiyou Crest region in southwest Oregon and northwest California.

We have coordinated the field trip series as a fundraiser for Applegate Siskiyou Alliance, a local conservation and advocacy organization that Luke is the executive director for. Registration is opening just in time for Native Plant Appreciation Month!

Last week, Suzie from Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds gave an online presentation for the OSU Extension Land Stewards Program, based out of the Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center in Jackson County.

Presentation description: This class presents basic skills for successful native seed collection, cleaning, and propagation to help you grow native plants to increase biodiversity and habitat on your land or in your garden. Topics include ethical native seed collection techniques, seed cleaning with basic home supplies, seed germination requirements for specific species, growing natives in nursery containers, and direct seeding techniques.

The presentation is about an hour and fifteen minutes, with some Q&A at the end. There is a few minutes of announcements by the Land Stewards host at the beginning of the recording, and the presentation begins about four minutes into the recording. Click on the YouTube link above to watch the presentation.

KSNS thanks the OSU Land Stewards Program for hosting this presentation, and for all the work they do to inform rural landowners in southwest Oregon about how to foster and support native plant communities.