Pollinators of White Plains
Fall Seed & Plant
Swap + Giveaway
October 4, 2026
White Plains Public Library
Pick out native plants and seeds for your garden.
Donate the extra plants and seeds you’ve collected.
No seeds to give? No problem! There are more than enough to give away.
[insert blurb we share with the library here]
Available Seeds / Plants
How to package seeds for the swap
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Time it right
Every plant has different peak seed collecting times. If the seeds are fluffy, they should pull away easily. If they’re pods, you should be able to shake the seeds out. The best way to know for sure is to research how to collect for your specific plants.
(Image credit: Getty Images / Andrea Obzerova) -
Collect and label
Collect your seeds in an easy to seal container. Old pill bottles make excellect seed containers. Be sure to label your container immediately after collecting. Nothing quite like working hard to collect seeds and then forgetting what they are (not that I’m speaking from experience…).
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Package and label
Using small envelopes (like these), place a small amount of seeds in each packet. Just enough for a layer of seeds in a gallon sized milk jug. Seal the envelope thoroughly. Those tiny seeds will try to sneak out. Then label with the Common name, Latin name, and ‘cultivar species’ if applicable. See more below.
How to label your seeds
First thing on the label can be the Common Name.
But keep in mind there are a lot of common names for a single plant (“Serviceberry”, “Sarvis berry”, etc), or a single common name for a lot of very different plants (“Milkweed” could be “Swamp Milkweed”, “Butterfly Milkweed”, or “Common Milkweed”), which is why #2 is more important.Second thing should be the Latin name.
First word capitalized, second lower case if you want to follow convention. This way we know exactly which plant is in the envelope.Cultivar name, if applicable.
If your plant is a known cultivar, you can add the cultivar name after the Latin name in ‘single quotes’.
Put it all together and you get:
Eastern Bluestar
Amsonia tabernaemontana ‘fontana’
Don’t know the Latin name?
Try The Native Commons
The Native Commons provides an easy way to look up information about the plants in your yard. Search for the common name, double check that the photos match the plant you collected from, and note down the Latin name.
