The growing season is coming to a close and you’re debating whether to “clean up” the yard, leave everything for the birds, or something else. Choose “something else.”

By all means leave some large portion of the plants in place so they can feed the birds and the insects that the birds eat, but all too often I hear people say that they’re going to leave all of the seed heads so the seeds can randomly appear in other people’s yards for them to enjoy.

Don’t do that. It is a waste of seed. In ‘mow and blow’ America, any seeds that survive to germination are far more likely to get mowed down or sprayed with herbicide than create an idyllic patch in your neighbor’s yard.

So here are a few suggestions about what to do with your seed heads:

DO leave a bunch of seed heads on your plants over the winter. This will feed the birds, their slovenly habits (as well as their poop) will help make sure new plants grow in the same location and the stalks will help capture fallen leaves, which feed the insects which then also feed the birds. It is the big poopcycle of life.

Save a bunch of seeds. Many native plants have seeds that the birds want to eat, but a whole bunch of native plants do not. Your milkweed seeds aren’t a big hit with any birds. Nor are Ironweed, pyeweed nor many others. Leaving those seeds for the birds is futile.

If you like the way they look or just want to relax instead of doing garden work, then by all means let them stay where they are, but leaving them all there isn’t going to do much.

Share your seed with others. There are always new and experienced gardeners looking for specific seeds. I sometimes feel like if gardeners were offering native seeds only within their own community the entire town could be full of pollinators in three years. Offer them in your gardening or free group. Offer them on your town page. Offer them to family and friends. Get those seeds into the hands of people who want them, rather than hoping the seeds get there in the wind.

Sow them where nobody cares. If you want to make a whole project of it, more power to you, but if you have a space that is just a crappy looking no-man’s land that nobody maintains and consequently is filled with (invasive) weeds, just throw the seeds there. (In the fall. Remember that most native plant seeds require cold stratification!) Near me I see miles and miles of land right next to the highway, beyond the mowed portion, that is filled with all sorts of weedy overgrowth. I have images in my head of a car driving in the far right lane with the passenger flinging fistfuls of seed as they go. I am not a lawyer, but this may not technically be “legal.”

Worst case scenario is that someone comes and mows or develops the site. So what? You weren’t going to use those seeds anyway!

Be realistic. Fistfuls of seed flung from a moving car aren’t likely to repopulate a stand of invasive Japanese Knotweed with pollinator friendly native species. However, that is far more likely to be successful than simply allowing these to blow into the neighbor’s yard.

So start saving native and beneficial seeds and do something good with them!