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Great seed , great ejaculate stories . Seed Savers Exchange has stewarded both since its founding in 1975 . To grade our fiftieth year , we ’ve released alimited - edition heirloom seed collectionfeaturing six of our most - cherish varieties .
These six heirloom seed varieties feature some of SSE ’s best come stories , include the two varieties that originate it all : the ‘ German Pink ’ tomato and the ‘ Grandpa Ott ’s ’ morning resplendence .
‘Three Pound Coffee Can’ asparagus
The50th Anniversary Seed Collectioncontains one packet of each variety :
Please note : In the event of a seed packet shortage , we will substitute a diversity . Rest assured — you’re still get six great varieties !
Keep understand to watch more about each historied smorgasbord in this collection .
‘Three Pound Coffee Can’ asparagus
‘Three Pound Coffee Can’ Asparagus
Diane Ott Whealy and Kent Whealy , SSE ’s atomic number 27 - founders , bring in this variety show with them when they moved to Decorah , Iowa , in 1984 . Diane planted the asparagus seeds in her own garden , and in 1985 transplanted some of the little crowns into a patch next to the historic barn at Heritage Farm , where the same maculation still flourishes 40 years after .
Diane recounts the origin of ‘ Three Pound Coffee Can ’ in her memoir , Gathering : “ A few years to begin with , a gentleman had send me a three - pounding Folgers coffee can full of seed . He said the plant were always mature from cum and rivaled any commercial variety , but they come to me with no name . His claim was true . These flora were eventually transplanted to a patch in front of the barn at Heritage Farm and 20 year afterwards have developed into a brilliant bed . One good thing about growing older : your Asparagus officinales patch gets proficient . ”
‘Good Mother Stallard’ Bean
‘ Good Mother Stallard ’ is one of 1,186 noodle mixed bag donated to SSE in 1981 by bean gatherer John Withee . diagnose for Carrie Belle Stallard of Wise County , Virginia , this bean go out to at least the thirties . This very productive pole attic is maroon slush with white and has a terrific rich and meaty flavor .
John Withee ( 1910 - 93 ) was an adventurer , a lensman , a consecrate family man , and , of course , a bean gatherer . He dedicated nearly two decennium of his life-time to curating one of the gravid personal aggregation of garden beans in the United States .
‘Grandpa Ott’s’ Morning Glory
One of two industrial plant that inspired the cosmos of Seed Savers Exchange , this morning glory bears beautiful , deep - purple flowers with cerise stars at their center . This ego - sowing annual can climb to 15 feet tall , if ease up a reenforcement to grow on .
As a child grow up on a farm near Festina , Iowa , Diane Ott Whealy would ofttimes visit the nearby farm of her grandparents , Baptist John and Helena Hackman Ott . Diane recalled a thick bulwark of morning time gloriole vine turn up string strings covering the east side of her grandparents ’ porch .
year later , when Diane was planting a garden of her own , she asked her Grandpa Ott for some of his source . Grandpa Ott returned with the morning resplendency seeds , as well as some ‘ German Pink ’ tomato seeds , and say that the seed were brought over from Bavaria , Germany , by his own parents when they immigrated to Iowa in the 1800s .
The original asparagus patch at Heritage Farm still grows today.
Today ‘ Grandpa Ott ’s ’ morn nimbus grows up twine strings on the side of the historical b at SSE ’s Heritage Farm .
Read more about ‘ Grandpa Ott ’s ’ morning glory .
‘German Pink’ Tomato
Along with ‘ Grandpa Ott ’s ’ morning glory , the ‘ German Pink ’ tomato is one of the two founding varieties of Seed Savers Exchange . Each year , Diane ’s grandparents grew a whole row of ‘ German Pink ’ tomatoes . When visiting her grandparents ’ farm , Diane recalls deplete fade of the ‘ German Pink ’ with sugar , help on a white disk after harvest home .
‘ German garden pink ’ tomato come were given to Diane by her Grandpa Ott , whose own parent brought the seed to Iowa from Bavaria when they immigrate in the 1800s . Diane still grow ‘ German Pink ’ tomatoes every class in her garden at Heritage Farm .
Read more about the ‘ German Pink ’ tomato .
‘Good Mother Stallard’ bean
‘Moon & Stars (Van Doren)’ Watermelon
For several years , Kent Whealy and Diane Ott Whealy searched for the famed ‘ Moon & Stars ’ watermelon , a deep - green watermelon vine with bright - yellow blotch of various size ( the moons and stars ) . The melon had been offer by two Midwest commercial-grade cum sources in the 1930s , but had since fall off the mart .
In 1981 , the Whealys were interviewing with their local television post . When asked the question of if there were any seeds SSE members had been unable to locate , Kent mention the ‘ Moon & Stars ’ watermelon .
After the consultation aired , the Whealys received a missive from Merle Van Doren , whose father had grow the ‘ Moon & Stars ’ watermelon vine in Tennessee . Merle himself had been grow and saving ‘ Moon & Stars ’ seed on his Missouri farm for as long as he could remember , and invited the Whealys to gossip for some seeds .
John Withee poses with a display case containing part of his bean collection.
Kent and Diane distributed the watermelon seeds to more than 100 appendage , and the ‘ Moon & Stars ( Van Doren)’—along with other form — joined the commercial-grade seed trade once more .
‘Bouquet’ Dill
A tight - growing , promiscuous - to - arise annual native to the Mediterranean , ‘ Bouquet ’ dill has been a staple fiber in herbaceous plant garden for centuries . flora grow 30–36 inch improbable , with gloomy - light-green , fern - similar foliage and large , airy bloom point that span up to six inches across . Leaves have a delicate flavor , while the blossom bring a more vivid herbal note ; the seeds provide a pungent , slightly bitter spice . All share are edible .
PLEASE observe : Due to a seed shortage , ‘ Bouquet ’ dill is included in this anniversary collection instead of ‘ Grandma Einck ’s ’ dill , an herb long grown in Diane Ott Whealy ’s phratry . record more about ‘ Grandma Einck ’s ’ dillhere .
What Are Heirloom Seeds?
“ Heirloom ” draw a seeded player ’s inheritance , specifically a documented inheritance being passed down from generation to generation within a family or community . Each variety in the fiftieth Anniversary Seed Collection is a treasured heirloom with a peculiar connecter to SSE history .
While some organization label seeds as heirloom fit in to date — for example , a kind that dates back more than five decades — Seed Savers Exchange identifiesheirloomsby verifying and document the generational story of preserve and pass on the seed , underscore the seed ’s tie to a specific group of the great unwashed . ( mixed bag introduced to the United States seed trade before 1950 , meanwhile , are labeled as “ historic ” at Seed Savers Exchange . )
Heirloom seeds constitute a critical part of the nation ’s agrarian heritage and help check genetic diversity of plant life species . Founded in 1975 , Seed Savers Exchange helped pioneer the heirloom seed movement and continues its work to preserve , broadcast , and sell rare and heirloom seminal fluid to this day . Today , Seed Savers Exchange cares for acollectionof more than 20,000 source variety .
‘Grandpa Ott’s’ morning glory
ascertain more about heirloom seeds .
Become an Heirloom Seed Steward
“ We can only preserve seeds through active stewardship . If we do n’t use them , if we do n’t allow them to grow again , they become lost . ” — Diane Ott Whealy
The best way to keep an heirloom seed diverseness alive is to grow and save its cum . By stewarding the treasured varieties in the50th Anniversary Seed Collection , you become an of import part of each seed ’s account — and help SSE carry out its commission to steward America ’s culturally diverse and endangered garden and food crop bequest for present and future generations .
We are here to aid you become a seed rescuer ! Check out these resources to get depart :
‘Grandpa Ott’s’ morning glory grows along the side of the barn at Heritage Farm every year.
Keep Exploring
When you make a purchase from Seed Savers Exchange , you help satisfy our non-profit-making mission to protect our food and garden heritage .
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‘German Pink’ tomato
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Seed Savers Exchange is a tax - nontaxable 501(c)3 non-profit-making organization give to the preservation of heirloom seeds .
Helena Hackman and Baptist John Ott, Diane Ott Whealy’s grandparents and longtime stewards of the ‘German Pink’ tomato and ‘Grandpa Ott’s’ morning glory.
Kent Whealy poses with ‘Moon & Stars (Van Doren)’ watermelons at Merle Van Doren’s farm.
The ‘Moon & Stars (Van Doren)’ watermelon graces the cover of Diane Ott Whealy’s memoir,Gathering: Memoir of a Seed Saver.
‘Bouquet’ dill
Heirloom lima beans from the SSE collection
Using blossom bags is an isolation method sometimes used when saving tomato seeds.
