Greater DuPage Chapter Events

Location The Growing Place 2000 Montgomery Road, Aurora, Il 60542 (Approximately 1/2 mile north of Ogden Ave. on Montgomery Road. Enter thru front gate and park in retail parking lots.) The annual seed-swap will be held this year at The Growing Place in Aurora. This is a popular event with our members and friends.  Seeds of many natives have been ripening over the past weeks and months, and our members have been busy collecting and packaging them.  We hope many of you have, too.

How the Exchange Works Collect your own seed and bring it to the Seed Exchange.  You are entitled to take other seeds home with you, up to an amount equal to what you bring.  If you do not have seed to trade, packets of seed can be purchased for a nominal charge.  Last year, we had over 100 species available.  Click here to see a list of seeds that were available last year. To see some tips on seed collecting go to our Seed Harvest page.

Label Those Seeds Please label the seeds you bring.  Include Latin name, common name, description and any other helpful information, such as color of flower, time of bloom, height of plant, best location, etc.  Print copies of our Seed Labels Template (Microsoft Word Format) or Seed Labels Template (PDF Format) to easily label your seeds.

How to Prepare and Package Seeds Please clean your seeds, meaning remove seeds from stems and leaves and, especially with milkweed, separate seeds from fluff.  If you have milkweed seeds with fluff still attached, the best thing to do is scatter into a field which will make a likely habitat for it.   Most milkweed pods have already broken open, but if you have some which are still closed, check out this link, "How to Harvest Milkweed Seeds", which demonstrates how to separate the seeds from the fluff. Asters, Joe Pye Weed, Goldenrod and other fluffy seeds should be separated from the stems and leaves.  This can be done easily by holding the stems upside down in the bag and hitting against the sides of the bag.

If you have a large quantity of seed, such as grasses or asters, you may bring them in one large bag and let folks help themselves.  Very small seeds or rare species should be divided into smaller quantities to allow more people an opportunity to sample them.  Package your seeds in envelopes or paper bags and please label them with Latin name and common name if possible.  Very small seeds of less common species should be packaged in small coin envelopes available at office supply stores.  You can also bring them in a jar or other container and provide a scoop or spoon so others can easily take a small amount.   We will have some coin envelopes on hand at the event as well as lunch-size paper bags and junk mail envelopes.  Bring empty bags, envelopes or containers in which to place the seeds you choose to take home and a tote bag to carry them.   Be sure to mark your tote bag with your name so someone else doesn't accidentally take it home with them.