Seed harvesting

Every year, in Valle d'Aosta a small miracle occurs: the harvest of the seeds of the alpine species, which involves four gardens and the work of many hands. In this way, the species are safeguarded and widespread in gardens and botanical gardens all over the world. The harvest takes place at the end of the summer. In the Gardens, it is an easy process, thanks to the daily monitoring of plants, but even seeds of the species present in nature are collected. To do this you have to trek along the paths or blaze new ones. The harvest is followed by the identification, drying and cleaning of the seeds. The latter is a step that requires a lot of patience because it is done by hand using sieves with progressively narrower meshes.

At this point, they draw up the Index Seminum, an index of seeds in which all the collected species are present. The actual seeds are instead stored in paper bags, with all relevant information related to the plant written on them: now they can begin their journey, to the rocks of distant Gardens.