Every fall, I get an urge to go out into the woods and gather things: pinecones, nuts, dried grasses. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s just my old Yankee genes saying it’s time to prepare for the long winter ahead.
As I watch the rest of the natural world prepare in earnest for a time when food will be scarce, I wonder what this winter will bring. There was an overabundance of acorns last year and look how that turned out. We were getting a foot of snow a day. So by October you’ll find me hunting for hickory nuts and walnuts to put into bread.
In November, I go out to gather the last of the wildflowers and wild grasses to bring in for a late fall bouquet in shades of gold, orange and brown. Unlike a summer bouquet, it needs no water—everything is already dried on the stalk when I pick them.
If you are so inclined to become a fall gatherer, all you need is a pair of sturdy scissors and a reusable cloth bag. Plastic bags don’t work well since they get static-y and pull some of the chaff from the grasses and flowers.
However, I won’t offer suggestions on where to go on the South Coast. The best part of gathering is discovering those places for yourself. Just pick a sunny day without wind and start your ramble along a country or seaside road. Dress warm, bring a thermos of hot cocoa and your imagination.
There’s only one rule to gathering: Leave much more than you take of any flower, vine or grass. They may look plentiful, but taking them out of the ecosystem means that there will be fewer seeds that propagate next spring.
Local Favorites
Here are a few of my favorite roadside flora that are usually dry on the stalk and keep a good long while in a dry vase.
Asters: These daisy-like flowers have a hardy stalk for arrangements. They come in a variety of colors and clusters, although by November most have already passed. That’s okay because they tend to go to fluff and provide a round soft element to the arrangement. The leaves last for a while, and offer a mid-brown color to the mix.
Burdocks: These deep-brown round flowers nestled on a spiky stalk provide a nice contrast to the grasses.
Little Bluestem grass: This is a common but useful light reddish tan grass that is both tall and spiky but has fluffy soft flowers.
Timothy grass: I love this stuff. The light golden color, fuzzy seed pods and slender leaf blades lighten up any room.
Winter Berries: Found near the edge of salt marshes, it has pretty, triangular clusters of white berries on a sturdy stalk.
Cattails: These are great drama pieces. According to my nature guide, you’ll never go hungry if you live near cattails. From tuber root to stem, all but the leaves are edible. Avoid taking narrowleaf cattails, which are a native variety and less plentiful.
Bittersweet: This is the exception to the rule. Anyone with bittersweet in their yard will gladly give you as much as your little heart desires. It’s an invasive vine that easily takes over a garden/yard/forest/the world. The golden encapsulated red berries on a brown woody vine is perfect for wreaths, but alas, only temporarily. Unless you spray them with a fixative, the seed pod and berries will fall off. However, even without berries the woody vine makes interesting curly shapes when cut into 18 inch lengths and dried out.
Wild grape vine: This is a thicker dark brown woody vine that can be woven into a frame for a wreath when the leaves are removed.
Sedges, rushes, and ryes are common throughout the South Coast. Choose those with clean leaves and sturdy stalks at the height you want for your arrangement.
A word of caution: poison sumac is a lovely shade of red with tall stately fruit, and I have known gatherers who went overboard and picked armloads. Fortunately for them, they were only mildly allergic and a little Calamine lotion took care of the weepy blistering rashes they got.
Likewise, poison ivy/poison oak may look like a great vine to string around your home with pretty red berries, until the oil stirs up a nasty rash wherever it lands on you.
Bring photos of these particular plants with you if you are not already familiar with them or download some onto your phone for easy reference.
But put the phone on “airport” mode. Gathering is a primal thing, putting you in harmony with fall turning into winter, watching the natural world recede into itself to await another spring.