Lake County volunteers separate seeds to increase native plants

Volunteers laughed and talked as they separated aromatic aster seeds from stems and leaves Tuesday at the Trail and Native Seed Nursery in Rollins Savanna Forest Preserve near Grayslake.

"We do that, number one, to reduce some of the bulk that we have to store. But some of the seeds you also want to remove the chaff to germinate easier, and you also want them in smaller pieces that are easy to mix up and to broadcast the seed out," explained Kelly Schultz, nursery coordinator for the seed program at the Lake County Forest Preserve District.

The native seeds that are produced are sown out across the district's forest preserve sites to reintroduce native plants and also to increase biodiversity of native species.

"I like to garden and I like to be able to come out and meet people, and volunteering is the thing to do," volunteer Laurie Wohlfeil of Gurnee said while separating seeds with 12 other volunteers. "I'm anxious to see what we are going to do here and how it goes out into the different forest preserves. I am anxious to see what my work will do once they all start to bloom."