Right now, during the darkest days of the year, last summer's seeds are living in the moment, nurtured by the comfort of the earth and sustained by the moisture of the winter season.
In the cover photo above, an aster seed has landed on an oak leaf in the rich habitat of the forest floor.
A colorful metallic sweat bee pollinates the bloom of a New England aster which is followed by a seed head in the fall.
The fibers attached to the seeds are designed to disperse them over a wide area to create genetic DNA richness and expand the boundary of its habitat outward. These aerodynamic elements also guide tiny droplets of moisture or humidity directly to the heart of the seed to ensure its viability.
Asters, dandelions and milkweed are a few of the plants that use this method of seed dispersal.
Milkweed silk is grown with seeds that form a particular geometric arrangement. The seeds disperse from the tip down and the first fiber pulls the succeeding fibers with a seed free from the protective pods.
Common milkweed, swamp milkweed and orange milkweed pods are still showing off in the gardens at the Farm at the Arb. What other seed pods can you see in these gardens?
Orange milkweed adds color to the green summer-scape and milkweed seeds escape and drift away.
It is not only the seeds that are lying dormant, their partners in life, ground-nesting bees, are snuggled in or intermittently buzzing with life. Ground nesting bees, including most bumblebees, spend 80% of their lives underground. Beneath the earth, the queen bumble bee is secure in a small burrow, complete with snacks of pollen to sustain her through the winter. 70% of the 20,000 bee species worldwide are ground-nesting bees and are a valuable component of food production.
If you would like more information about ground-nesting bees and to participate in a community science initiative, check out Ground-Nesting Bee.
Monarda is a bee magnet and fall reveals the seed head.
The monarda and aster seed heads are visible in the winter landscape, scattering seeds below and on top of the snow blanket and also providing food to winter birds and critters. You can find many varieties of prairie plant seed heads in The Bennett-Johnson Prairie and in the Prairie Garden near the Prairie parking lot.
Additional prairie seed pods are abundant in Spring Peeper Meadow.
Trees along Peter C. Moe Drive reflect the long shadows of the season.
Another nod to spring during these short, dark winter days is the winter solstice on Dec. 21. At that point, the number of daylight minutes will start to increase daily, gradually culminating in the summer equinox, the longest day of the year.
If you want to follow the day-to-day increase of daylight, visit the National Weather Service’s website and follow the progress.
After your winter walk and survey of seed pods, stop into the Skyway Gallery to visit the Andersen Horticultural Library’s “Poster Palooza: Celebrating 50 Years of Andersen Horticultural Library,” on display through Jan. 24.
Plus, don’t miss winter events at the Arboretum and embrace the best season in Minnesota — winter!
Zan Tomko is an artist, horticulturist, Minnesota Master Naturalist Instructor and a co-founder of the iNaturalist Minnesota Lichen Map Project. Find more information about the Minnesota Master Naturalist program