Autumn Phenology - Hennepin Parks Autumn Phenology by Kathy Heidel, Senior Interpretive Naturalist Suburban Hennepin Regional Park District Autumn the time for ripened seeds to leave their parent plants and disperse to new growing sites. Time also for harvest, consumption, storage, and stratification. Many seeds must be freed from their parachutes, husks, pulp, or capsules and then get stored in rodent free cold dark places with just the right amount of moisture. Autumn is a time when fecundity supplies food for wildlife and secures a future for flowering plants. Early September Goldenrods, Liatris, thistles, and asters burst into bloom and attract throngs of nectaring monarch butterflies.
Goldfinches eat bull and pasture thistle seeds.
The discarded silky parachutes are gathered by mice to line their winter sleeping quarters. Acorns fall from the oaks and are quickly cached by squirrels and their kin. The reproductive part of the plant is the mushroom cap and stem. Spores the size of dust are shed when the mushroom is ripe. Spores are similar to the seeds of flowering plants.