Now is the time to try gathering seeds from your plants to store for the winter and package to share on the GCA Seed Share platform. This is especially fun and useful if you are growing plants that are difficult to find in nurseries.

You can start to collect seed through the growing season—that means starting in April/May, with small bulbs like scilla and continuing until frost signals the end. Peak season is late summer and fall. Learning when seeds are ripe enough to collect takes a little practice, but the seeds will continue to ripen off the plant once they’ve reached a certain point of development. As you see flowers fading, keep an eye on the forming seeds. Don’t pick seed heads immediately after the petals fade, but wait until the seeds are visible and have reached maturity. As the seed heads turn brown, snip them off. You can cut the stems of some plants and shake the seeds into a bag or snip pods, as in cleome, and split the pod to find seeds. Seeds need the living plant to give them nourishment while they swell into full size in the seed coat.

Once you have your seeds, find a protected area to ripen and dry them in a cool dry area. Newspapers, shallow cardboard boxes or clean pizza boxes work well. Their low rims allow air circulation that’s vital to drying. Spread seed heads and pods in a shallow layer, allowing space between them. It’s important to dry them immediately so that mold doesn’t set in.

When the pods and seed heads feel totally dry—which can take anywhere from a week to a month—shake the seeds into an envelope or paper bag. Strain the seeds through a sieve to remove chaff and litter, then transfer them to small envelopes. Label with the plant’s name and the date, then store them in a cool, dry place (refrigerate) until planting time.

Read about GCA's Seed Share program here or by clicking here.

Lise and I worked months on the exhibit for the Flower Show. It was fun to finally get the project out there and to see people taking in the information. Neither of us were adept at this kind of thing, so we were really going with our gut to see how the exhibit evolved.

We started with the issues gleaned from our panel with Diane Lewis and the overview of the Mississippi Watershed. We also related the attributes of the One World One Water program through DBG and MSU. There was so much to talk about so we edited down the facts regarding our most precious resource —water: the pollution of it and its scarcity. Population growth and climate change are hastening the effects of water scarcity and nutrient pollution here in Colorado and beyond. Both exhibits addressed the problems facing us now.

The entirety of TLOF was an incredible success. Floral Design Entries were amazingly gorgeous and diverse. The beauty of each arrangement showed much planning by the entrants and perfect execution. Kudos to each member of GCD and other clubs for taking the challenge to participate! It is difficult at times to put ourselves out there into a public forum. . .we all fear we are not good enough.

The public response to the floral design creations proved that we worry for naught. For those of us manning the show during public hours it was such fun to hear and watch the response. The public wanted to know: Did we do public demonstrations of creating floral arrangements? Did we have classes? Could anyone join GCD? The public thoroughly enjoyed watching entrants "freshen" their arrangements on Friday and Saturday. From the bottom of our hearts we thank all who helped to make TLOF a reality. Congratulations to us all!

The Language of Flowers GCA flower show included a stunning photography exhibit. This isn’t just the opinion of proud GCD club members, it is also the opinion of the GCA judges. They awarded a “Commendation” to the photography class for having creative classes and for the physical hanging and placement of the photographs.

Big thanks to the photography class consultants and congratulations to all the photographers.

Here are the results:

Debbie Laverell: 1st place,

The Garden Workers, Zone V

Roberta DuBeshter: 2nd place, Photography Creativity Award, Rochester GC, Zone III

Suellen White: 3rd place, GC Denver

Janet Josselyn: Honorable Mention, Noanett GC, Zone I

Ginny Freyer, GC Denver

Malinda Bergen, Trustees GC (Savannah) Zone VIII

Liza Grant: 1st place, GC Denver

(See photo below)

Janet Manning: 2nd place, GC Denver

Margaret Garbe: 3rd place, GC Denver

Angela Overy, GC Denver

Meg Tapp, GC Houston, Zone IX

Suellen White, GC Denver

Amy Mower: 1st place, Best in Show, GC Denver (See photo below)

Sarah Alijani: 2nd place, GC Denver

Roberta DuBeshter: 3rd place, Rochester GC Zone III

Cindy Pratt: Honorable Mention, Lake Minnetonka GC, Zone XI

Anne Speed, Little Rock GC, Zone IX

Marianne Sulser, GC Denver

Cass Antle: 1st place, Novice Award, Carmel-by-the-Sea GC, Zone XII

Debbie Laverell: 2nd place, The Garden Workers, Zone V

Janet Josselyn: 3rd place, Noanett GC, Zone I

Deborah Foy: Honorable Mention, GC Denver

Lynn Dolven, GC Denver

Sarah Alijani, GC Denver

Anne-Marie Lamarche: 1st place, Piedmont GC, Zone XII

Beverly Kazickas: 2nd place, GC East Hampton, Zone III

Lisa Melamed: 3rd place, Lake Minnetonka GC, Zone XI

Kerry Valentine: Honorable Mention, Tacoma GC, Zone XII

Malinda Bergen, Trustees GC (Savannah) Zone VIII

Nancy Guldberg, Lake Minnetonka GC, Zone XI

Deborah and I welcome everyone to our first committee field shoot on Tuesday, October 19 at 9:30, location t.b.d. Our First Got Photos? is Thursday, October 21 at 4:30. Zoom invite to follow.

Please sign-up for the photography committee on the GCD website or email Suellen (suellenwhite@mac.com) or Deborah (foy.deborah@gmail.com).