A 'Hutterite Breadseed' poppy flower with four large petals that are light purple on the outside and deep purple near the base, with a green seed pod exposed in the middle

New Seed Varieties for 2026

The 2026 Seed Savers Exchange catalog includes 13 new seed varieties—including six stunning varieties from our seed bank collection—and they promise to be popular picks of gardeners everywhere!

Blue and white 'Miss Jekyll' love-in-a-mist flowers

Growing Guides

Flower Seed Saving Profiles

These profiles offer insights into the reseeding potential and harvest timing of 16 different common flower types, as well as seed-saving tips to help you confidently grow and preserve their beauty for years to come.

A red building and a red barn nestled among a landscape of trees with changing fall colors of leaves.

How Tos

How to Prepare Your Garden for Winter

If you live in cool climates, it’s time to start thinking about closing down your garden for the season. However, there are many things to consider when it comes to preparing your garden for winter. Follow this checklist to put your garden to bed and set yourself up for success in the new year!

An arrangement of many colorful zinnia flowers

Growing Guides

How to Save Zinnia Seeds

Zinnias are easy to grow, prolific bloomers, a favorite of pollinators, and have a long vase life.

A bunch of scrapbook pages hanging on a line of string with clothespins in a barn

Stewardship Stories

Memories from SSE’s 50th Anniversary

At Seed Savers Exchange’s 50th Anniversary Celebration and Conference this past August, guests of all ages were invited to step into the hayloft of the barn and take part in one of our most meaningful activities: the 50th Anniversary Scrapbook.

A gardener bends down to harvest Swiss chard leaves in a garden.

How Tos

Tips for Harvesting and Storing Vegetables

Want the highest yields from your vegetable garden? Keep reading to learn some tips for harvesting and storing vegetables to encourage your plants to keep producing fresh food all season long.

Varieties

Easy Heirloom Herbs for Beginners

Whether you have raised beds, window-sill boxes, or are limited to container gardening, here are six herbs that are especially easy for beginners to grow and enjoy.

A man wearing a Cubs baseball shirt stands in a flower bush.

Stewardship Stories

Hope and Practice: Charles Hoehnle

“I just enjoy growing things. I never get tired of watching things grow and develop.” – Charles L. Hoehnle
Charles has been saving and sharing seeds through the Exchange since 1991—and gardening even longer. From his roots in Iowa’s Amana Colonies to his blue ribbons at the Iowa State Fair, Charles’s life is a testament to the quiet power of stewardship, tradition, and seed saving.

Several rows of small collard plants underneath an uncovered hoop tunnel structure

How Tos

How to Plant a Fall Garden

For many gardeners, the gardening season dies down in the summer after the spring rush of seed starting and transplanting. However, gardeners can plant many things from July to September for a fall garden with harvests all the way up to winter, especially with changing climates. In fact, fall might just be the most underrated season for gardening!

A man smiles and holds several large green tomatoes

Stewardship Stories

Hope and Practice: Craig LeHoullier

Hope and Practice with Craig LeHoullier: ‘Participating in Seed Savers Exchange Changed My Life.’ It is hard for me to believe, but my discovery, joining, and total immersion into Seed Savers Exchange happened in 1986. SSE was a mere child of 11, and I was a young husband, father, and relatively inexperienced gardener of 30. Though I am still a husband and father—and soon-to-be grandfather—my gardening experience has grown significantly, with much of the credit going to the life I’ve lived as an SSE member.

Articles