Hey All,

It has been one of the craziest years for seed collection. Here in Montana we have had a really hard frost already and yet the asters still thrive. It seems like this would be the time for everything to be winding down for the season, but this has been my busiest month yet. The fall seed crops are amazing which is surprising considering the lack of moisture this summer. For our native plant materials program we were in need for some winterfat so I was on a mission to find a couple of populations, and everywhere I looked the plants were low to the ground with not much growth.  It was looking pretty bleak  and I actually had given up looking.  After the first major frost I went out to collect Western Showy Aster because I knew it wouldn’t be long before the seeds dispersed, and the frost must have sparked something in the plants because I have found three winterfat sites that look great for collection.  Because it has been so dry I have been keeping an eye on all of the winterfat sites so I do not miss the window of opportunity, and in those monitoring trips I have found so many opportunistic collections. It has been exciting  and I have about nine collections to ship to be cleaned and I am still monitoring a couple more that are not quite ready for collection.

        

Here are a few pictures of some of the asters I have ran across this fall. I am excited to add these to my SOS collections and can’t wait to see them in the grow out plan for the Special K Ranch. They will make a great addition not only for sage grouse habitat restoration projects but they are great for attracting fall pollinators that are essential for every ecological community.

I also have put all my seedlings to bed for the winter. Just to remind everyone, Montana is unique in that we get to collect the seed and get to grow out that same seed for native plant restoration projects. It is also unique in that the Special K Ranch grows out the plants and this ranch is home to approximately thirty mentally handicapped adults that work and run the ranch. So they do the majority of the growing out of all the seedlings. It has been an awesome experience to work alongside such amazing people. It has been the highlight of my internship. I will miss all my new friends at the ranch they have taught me a lot. We put to bed approximately 50,000 seedlings and hopefully the majority of them will be alive and well come spring.

One of the residents, Rod, watering the seedlings in the winter holding before we bed them with straw.