Penn State Master Gardeners of Blair County

09/29/2026

Love those colorful fall Chrysanthemums? With a little care, you can keep them blooming beautifully and even try saving them for next year! Here are some great tips for keeping them pretty duringteh fall weather.

Mums are the stars of the fall perennial garden. They bloom profusely and continue blooming even after frosts have zapped tender annual flowers. They are now available at garden centers in a wide range of colors including white, yellow, orange, bronze, red, purple and pink. “Chrysanthemum” is no...

09/28/2026

We're checking in on your gardens. What are you still harvesting?
Tell us in the comments!

09/25/2026

Learn to design a beautiful, sustainable landscape and discover how to select, collect, and propagate native plants for year-round interest and healthier outdoor spaces in our upcoming workshop.

Join Master Gardeners, Sarah Hazlett and Meg Mills on October 6 at 6 PM at the Hollidaysburg Area Public Library.

What will you learn?
- Principles of effective landscape design
- How to assess your site, including sunlight, soil, drainage, and existing features
- How to select plants that thrive in your growing conditions
- How to use color, texture, and form to create visual interest
- Designing for four-season beauty and year-round appeal
- Sustainable landscaping practices
- How plants produce and disperse seeds
- How to use iNaturalist to categorize plants for collection
- When and how to harvest seeds
- Ethical seed collection practices
- How to store seeds after collection
- Stratification and scarification techniques for breaking seed dormancy

Register at: https://extension.psu.edu/landscape-design-and-native-seed-collection

09/23/2026

Here's what Tilva shared about fall seed saving:

Saving seeds from your fall garden is a rewarding way to practice self-sufficiency and preserve your favorite plant varieties for future seasons.

Here are some key tips for saving seeds:

- Choose the Right Plants: Focus on open-pollinated cultivars rather than hybrids. Seeds saved from hybrid plants often do not produce offspring that resemble the parent plant.
- Harvesting Techniques:
Beans and Peas: Allow the pods to mature and dry completely on the plant before harvesting.
Lettuce: Harvest seeds after the plant sends up a flower stalk but before the seeds are dispersed by the wind. You can rub the seed heads between your hands and use a sieve to separate the seeds from the chaff.
Tomatoes: Harvest seeds from ripe fruit. Because tomato seeds are surrounded by a gelatinous pulp, they require a fermentation process in a jar for two to three days to separate the viable seeds, which will sink to the bottom.
Flowers: Many flowers, such as zinnias, marigolds, and sunflowers, are excellent for seed saving. For sunflowers, allow the head to dry on the stalk, potentially covering it with a paper bag to protect it from birds.
- Drying: Seeds must be thoroughly dried before storage. A good test is to ensure they cannot be dented with your fingernail or that they snap/shatter when bent or hit. Spread them in a single layer on a paper plate or screen in a well-ventilated area out of direct sunlight for at least a week, stirring them daily.
- Storage: Store dried seeds in airtight containers (such as glass jars or plastic bags) in a cool, dark, and dry location. Label every container clearly with the plant variety and the date of harvest.
- Disease Prevention: Be mindful that some diseases can be carried in seeds. Avoid saving seeds from plants that show signs of illness to prevent introducing those issues into next year's garden.

To learn more about Seed Saving, attend our upcoming workshop on October 6: https://extension.psu.edu/landscape-design-and-native-seed-collection

Ask Tilva your other garden questions: https://extension.psu.edu/ai-assistant

Design a beautiful, sustainable landscape and discover how to select, collect, and propagate native plants for year-round interest and healthier outdoor spaces.

09/22/2026

Fall House Chores? Don’t Forget the Garden! 🌱

Just as fall brings a list of chores around the house, there are plenty of fall garden chores to tackle, too!
Check out these reminders

Things that can be done this fall before the first snowflake falls.

09/21/2026

Here's a great fall garden tip for our garden pollinators:

As you begin your fall garden cleanup, consider leaving some leaves, hollow stems, and plant debris in place until spring. Many native bees, butterflies, moths, and other beneficial insects spend the winter tucked inside stems, under leaf litter, or in protected garden debris.

A garden that looks a little less tidy can provide critical habitat for pollinators and other beneficial creatures during the colder months.



Photo credit: Jeannine Wonderling-Inlow, Master Gardener

09/20/2026

Come see us at the Pawpaw Festival! We're here until 5!

09/20/2026

Thanks so much to Meg for teaching her seed saving skills at our Plant Sale last weekend. Well done, Megan Mills!

If you missed it, join Meg on October 6 to learn more: https://extension.psu.edu/landscape-design-and-native-seed-collection