A Pretty Seedy Garden

‘Autumn Joy’ Sedum seed heads persist through winter.

This time of year the flowers are mostly faded and few things have retained enough foliage to be markedly interesting.  But those faded flowers have left something behind – seeds!  Seeds can do a few of very cool things:

1. They sustain the plant species for the coming year as new plants are born from the seeds of the previous year.
2. They provide nourishment for all kinds of birds and animals over the long winter season.  (Thankfully here in Tennessee winters are not terribly long.
3. They provide the gardener something fun and interesting to look at when all else fails!

It’s because of those three reasons that I leave the seed heads alone at the end of the fall, but of those reasons the second one is my favorite.  As you can see the coneflowers are a favorite of the finches, titmice, and chickadees.  Coneflower seed heads have spiky seeds that have a very “sharp” winter interest look

Crape myrtles produce some neat little seed pods.  These lavender purple crape myrtles produced a bounty of seeds this year.  Maybe I’ll be gifted with a few free crape myrtles next year!

Garlic chives look great even after their flowers have faded.  A few seeds are still lingering on the stalks but it’s the leftover flower petals that make the show here.  

These small rudbeckia seeds are sure to produce beautiful yellow flowers next summer.  I can’t wait for that!

The berries (which contain the seeds) of this pyracantha produce some valuable nourishment for the birds and provide us with some orange color through the winter.