Little Seed Library
The Little Seed Library next to the pollinator garden provides free native plant seeds from the Cold Spring Park Pollinator Garden and other trusted sources from late fall to early spring. The rest of the year it will contain books and leaflets related to pollinator gardening that you can borrow. Help spread native plants to save at-risk bees and butterflies!
Guidelines:
- Please take up to two seed packets per species and a garden brochure.
- White packets contain seeds that support at-risk bees and butterflies.
- Brown packets support many other pollinators.
- Please take a “how to” leaflet. Consider:
- Sowing seeds directly in the garden will yield less than 1% success.
- Try the winter sow milk jug method for best results – you will have a good chance of getting 9 plants covering 9 square feet per packet. For more detailed instructions, click on the video below.
- Most native perennial seeds should be sown by Valentine’s Day.
- We would love it if you emailed FriendsOfColdSpringPark@gmail.com to let us know what you took so we can follow up and track what is working.
- If you want to donate seeds, please email FriendsOfColdSpringPark@gmail.com
- ONLY NATIVE PLANT SEEDS ARE ACCEPTED.
For more information on native plant gardening in and around Newton, visit the Newton Community Pollinator Project Facebook Page and the Newton Conservators Pollinator Toolkit. Another easy-to-read resource was recently suggested by an environmental club for girls that appreciated the links on this site. Thank you to Shana Mendelson and your club! Your girls are on their way to be great stewards of our natural world!
The Little Seed Library is the Eagle Project of Sophie Turney, Troop 209 of Waban.
Sponsors: Friends of Cold Spring Park
Newton Dept. of Parks, Recreation & Culture
Newton Community Pollinator Project