Chapter Seed Library
Since 2022 the Cedar Rapids Iowa City Wild Ones chapter has been collecting and sharing seeds among members and with interested community members. At every Native Plant Seed Share event, we tend to receive more donations of seeds than we give away. Excess seeds are stored so that future members can continue to benefit from collected seeds.
Local Library Seed Donations
In addition to saving seeds to give away at Native Plant Seed Share events, we also donate seeds to local libraries including The Iowa City Public Library, {more libraries as we donate more}. We focus on donating seeds which are fairly easy to grow and which are sought after by beginner gardeners. Some of these seeds go on to be used in educational events through the library as well.
What does the Germination Code mean?
We use Prairie Moon’s germination codes which tells you how to germinate each seed. The seed of some native species need special treatment to mimic the natural processes that allow them to germinate in the wild. One common requirement is cold stratification, where a seed might need to have a period of time exposed to cool moist soil prior to being exposed to warm weather before it germinates. This mimics the natural process of seasons changing triggering the seed to germinate in spring (vs germinating too early in the fall and then not having enough root structure to survive overwinter).