Join staff from Umstead State Park and the State Library of North Carolina’s Government and Heritage Library in a collaborative event celebrating native plants, seed saving, and seed libraries.
This event will include a native plant walk and community seed saving workshop and will take place from 3-5 pm on September 25, 2025 in Umstead State Park. We will begin with a native plant walk led by Umstead Park Ranger Nick Dioguardi. The hike will be moderately strenuous and last approximately one hour.
Following the native plant walk, Alyssa Putt, Education & Instruction Librarian for the SLNC Government & Heritage Library, will lead a hands-on seed saving workshop. Attendees will learn best practices for ethical seed collecting and basics for how to process, save, and store native seeds. This workshop will focus on using everyday materials for seed saving, such as colanders, sieves, rolling pins, paper bags, and paper plates. Workshop participants are encouraged to bring items for processing and cleaning seeds – such as sieves or rolling pins – as well as native plant seeds saved from their gardens. Participants will practice their seed cleaning skills and will create their own custom native seed mix from seeds processed during the workshop.
Registration is required and limited to 20 attendees. DPR employees who are interested in attending this event should register via the DPR training calendar.