There’s a new arrival in Washington Square Park! The gardening team is introducing germinating seeds, including those for coneflowers (Echinacea) and wild ginger (Asarum canadense). 

But what does it mean, or matter, that these seeds will germinate? Many of the plants currently in the Park do return year after year and grow bigger, but they require manual intervention to start a new plant because they don’t produce viable seeds. Some other plants can produce viable seeds, but since they’re hybrids you may wind up with something completely different from the mother plant when the seed finally grows. These new varieties will not only grow big and beautiful, but they’ll spread out and start new plants of the same variety. It might take a couple of seasons before we see the results, but the wait will be worth it.