gardens, trees, and buildings topped with snow

How to sow seeds in winter

Did you know that there are certain seeds that you can sow when the temperatures are still cool and there’s still snow on the ground?

Stewardship Stories

Hope and Practice: Kay Antúnez de Mayolo

If you stop by Kay Antúnez de Mayolo’s farmstand at Modoc Harvest’s Food Hub and farmer’s market, on the Great Basin’s western edge in rural northern California, she might sell you “regular” lettuces or tomatoes and let you be on your way.

Varieties

New Seed Varieties 2025: Something for Everyone

Seed Savers Exchange marks 50 years in 2025, and there’s a lot to celebrate—including 16 new seed varieties in our special-edition catalog (seven exclusively from the SSE collection).

Bright red double-petal poppies in a garden.

Varieties

‘Chima Family Heirloom’: one pretty (remarkable) poppy

It’s little wonder the charming ‘Chima Family Heirloom’ poppy has garnered rave reviews from the gardeners who have grown it since it was introduced by Seed Savers Exchange in 2017.

Close-up of a leafy green 'Aunt Mae's Bibb' lettuce head

Varieties

‘Aunt Mae’s Bibb’ lettuce checks all the boxes

In 1937, Nestor and Amber Keene acquired a very special Bibb lettuce from Nestor’s Aunt Mae Smith of Millheim, Pennsylvania, who had, in turn, received it from “local folks named Zimmerman who had grown it for decades in Brush Valley.”

A bouquet of yellow and orange 'Lorenzo Trussoni' safflowers with spiky safflower leaves

Varieties

‘Lorenzo Trussoni Heirloom’ safflower brings beauty, history to any garden.

In July 2015, a few Seed Savers Exchange preservation staff members drove about an hour-and-a-half from Decorah, Iowa, to Genoa, Wisconsin. Their mission? To meet Marilyn Leum, longtime steward of the ‘Lorenzo Trussoni Heirloom’ safflower, at an annual picnic held on the Fourth of July at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church.

Varieties

‘German Pink’: the tomato that started it all

Here at Heritage Farm—the Northeast Iowa home of Seed Savers Exchange—the ‘German Pink’ tomato is perhaps best known as “tomato number one” or “the tomato that started it all.”

Four sliced beets of different colors (white and yellow, red, yellow, and white) lined up.

Learn

SSE’s ADAPT program seeks community scientists

Do you enjoy gardening? Do you like growing truly unique varieties? Do you love knowing that you are contributing to a good cause like increasing biodiversity? Do you want to try something new in 2024? If you answered “yes” to any (or all) of these questions, then Seed Savers Exchange has an exciting opportunity for you: the Community Science ADAPT program.

Giving

The Herman’s Garden Program

Each year Seed Savers Exchange donates more than 50,000 packets of seed to more than 600 gardens worldwide through the Herman’s Garden program.

A colorful map of the United States depicting the plant hardiness zones. Text at the top reads

Learn

USDA Releases New Plant Hardiness Zone Map

Thanks to a new map released by the USDA in mid-November—the first update to the map since 2012—many gardeners will be planting some flowers, fruits, and vegetables for the very first time this spring.

Sara Friedl-Putnam