Seeding Our Future: Seed Collection Workshop with Seeding Victoria

Posted on 19 December, 2024 by Hadley Cole

On Saturday 9 November Connecting Country teamed up with Seeding Victoria to deliver a Seed Collection Workshop focussed on techniques for local indigenous plants. This workshop is part of a series of engagement events Connecting Country is coordinating through the Seeding Our Future project. This project aims to build the populations, and therefore resilience, of local flora species by engaging community members in the collection and growing of local species to build seed banks across the region ensuring seed security for future revegetation.

Dan Frost and Robert Hall from Seeding Victoria presented the workshop covering topics from seed collection permits, common and uncommon species worth collecting in terms of the price fetched per gram of seed, future projection of seed required for revegetation projects across the state (eg. for restoration projects as part of Victorian government BushBank program) followed by more practical aspects including collection techniques for various plant types.

Dan Frost has been collecting seed for almost two decades and brought a wealth of knowledge to the workshop. He talked us through the useful seed collecting equipment and talked about the increasing importance of creating seed orchards for collecting seed as weather patterns change significantly with climate change.

The second part of the workshop involved heading outside so Dan could talk us through identification of local flora species as well as recognising the various life stages plants move through and the optimum timing for collecting seed. We looked at a diversity of lifeforms including local everlasting daisies, shrubs, wattles, eucalypts, grasses and sheoaks. Dan also talked through the OH&S issues that can arise when collecting from trees. The most important message of the day was to always leave seed behind for the bush – as well as meeting permit requirements (only collecting 10% of seed from each plant) it is also critical seed remains in the bush for future growth for habitat and food for the local fauna.

Participants reported they enjoyed excellent presentations for Seeding Victoria staff, and many expressed their interest in getting involved in future seed collection and/or conservation projects.

“Thank you for the wonderful workshop. Dan was an excellent presenter with a huge amount of knowledge communicated really well. Thank you all! “

The Connecting Country team are pleased to kick the Seeding Our Future project off so successfully. We look forward to the next workshop: Propagation with Newstead Natives in February 2025.

The Seeding Our Future project is funded by the North Central Catchment Management Authority (NCCMA) through the 2024 Victorian Landcare Grants.