Collecting seeds

On Saturday I went out to the Fisher Oak Savanna for a volunteer work day. They were collecting seeds from their prairie plants at the south end of the property for use in a reseeding project on one of the NICHES properties in Tippecanoe County.

This bit of restored prairie is just south of a sand hill, and one of the residents who stopped by said that at night from the crest you could see the flashing lights of the windmills to the south. Since they all flash in unison, the sight can be quite impressive.

There were only a few people who showed up: two guys who work for NICHES, a young lady, myself, and a bit later, two students from SJC. We were given clippers and cut off the tops of plants like the one in the picture below, and put them into a big bag.

I could only recognize a few of the plants and met some new ones. The White Indigo (probably this) had interesting seed pods, and the Mountain Mint (probably this) had seeds that smelled very good.

I am not sure what the yellow flowers were in the picture below. I was given a name, but I forgot it. They were growing in the lower and more moist part of the prairie.

There were still some asters blooming, and this picture turned out better than I expected. There are many different blue asters, and I do not know which one this one is. They will not have a lot of time to set their seed.

Blogger has a new option for picture sizes--I can now select "original size" as an option. I like it--what do you think of it?