Not Just Leaves

Mention Autumn gardening and everyone thinks of raking and gathering leaves. Without a doubt falling leaves generate the most work in my yard. Instead of thinking of the onerous task of picking up millions of leaves, for me Autumn conjures up days of collecting seeds. It is through the harvest of seeds in the Fall that I have an abundance of flowers in the spring and summer. Seeds to me are magical. They are relatively small and inert. They give no indication of the fabulous plants they will become. Robert Louis Stevenson is quoted, “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.” I gather to plant.

Prior to moving to New York, most of my experience with seed gathering was as a child. My parents always saved as many seeds as possible. It is a time honored tradition that is both fun and rewarding. Two years ago my friend, Gayle Myers-Harbison in Colorado, gave me a remote tutorial on raising plants by seed. She carefully explained vernalization, repotting, lighting and other techniques for starting seeds indoors. She is a master at everything, especially cooking and gardening.

In Winter, I get seed catalogs and will buy particular seeds – specialty seeds, new variations, things I haven’t grown before. For everything else I save seeds. Following is a little about some of the seeds I have been gathering.

Black Eyed Susan is not something I have grown from seed. They are such a bright and cheerful flower. This winter I will start some inside. If I can grow them from seed then I might expand my current few bushes to many.

I grew several colors of morning glory this year – an intense purple, a pale pink/almost white and a striped blue. They were delightful rambling up posts and across logs in the woodland garden. Next year, I will plant even more.

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Four o’clocks are difficult to photograph. They only bloom for a short time during the day. The flowers have an enticing light fragrance in the summer and attract many bees and butterflies. My mother always had a long row of four o’clocks. They were planted along my next door neighbor’s fence. Four o’clocks will drop their seeds and come up in profusion on their own. Our neighbor hated the four o’clocks springing up in her yard and I recall one year when she pulled up nearly all of them – on both sides of the fence – to let my mother know she did not appreciate them on her side. I did not plant any last spring and still had them in abundance.

Zinnias must be one of the easiest flowers to grow. I planted three different varieties this year; a mixed color – Cut and Come Again variety, an all white variety and a special Zinderella variety. The result was hundreds of flowers. The bees and butterflies went crazy.

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Gaillardia has an intense red flower with a yellow edge. Big bumble bees especially like these flowers. When the seed heads develop and dry, they look like little puff balls. Strangely, they are supposed to be deer resistant, but in my garden the deer occasionally nibble them.

I was out running in the neighborhood a couple of weeks ago and spied a nice patch of Cone Flower. I picked some seed heads and put them in the pocket of my running shorts. They stuck me the entire run home, but the pain was worth it. I returned with seeds I hope to encourage to become plants next year.

Lupines are an early summer flower. They were glorious this year. Most seem to have died back and my suspicion is they might be biennial in my yard.

Ballon Flower is a delightful deep blue flower with a grayish green leaf. Deborah Pariser planted them in the yard. They have continued to come back and this year I am trying to encourage them in several areas in the yard. They are called Balloon Flowers because the blossoms, just before opening, look like little balloons. The seeds are quite small.

Shasta Daisies grow throughout the yard. I grew them indoors and transplanted them in the spring. Throughout mid-summer they provided us with brilliant spots of white in the yard. Their darker foliage is a perfect foil for the whiteness of their petals.

Finally, I come to the last seed I have gathered – Butternut Squash. We grew many different types of vegetables in the garden. For most of the vegetables we did not save any seeds; we will buy new seeds for next year. The Butternut Squash is an exception. I initially thought there was something wrong with the plant. I am used to picking large sized squash. The only thing that developed was small – roughly 5-6 inches long, squash. I took a chance and picked one, as it looked perfectly developed. Cutting it open I discovered it was not only perfectly developed, but also the yummiest orange I had ever seen in a Butternut Squash. It was delicious. I am hopeful the seed will yield the same wonderful small squash. The smaller size was so much easier for me to cook dinner for one.

While I like Butternut Squash in sandwiches and in risotto, my favorite dish is Butternut Squash soup. It was a chilly rainy day today, perfect for taking these last 2 squashes and making soup for one.

Trust me, it was delicious! Happy Fall!

Here is my favorite Butternut Squash soup recipe.

Butternut Squash Soup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Using olive oil or vegetable oil, oil the flat sides of the butternut squash and place flat side down on a baking sheet.  Bake for 40 minutes.  Remove from oven.  Cool, peel and cut into chucks.  

Melt butter in saucepan on medium heat.  Chop shallots and cook shallots in butter until soft.   Add wine and cook and additional 4 minutes (burning off the alcohol).  Dissolve bouillon cubes in 1cup water.   In blender puree squash, shallot mixture, and bouillon cube mixture.  Return to saucepan.  Add thyme, rosemary, marjoram and whipping cream.  Heat thoroughly and serve.  

Word of caution do not puree hot liquids, they will explode.