A bouquet of yellow and orange safflowers.

‘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.

A pie with a slice taken out on a wooden table, and a basket of small yellow melons and apples.

Recipes

‘Mother Mary’s Pie’ Melon Pie

Recipe submitted by Diane Ott Whealy, SSE co-founder and board member. In 1997, a Minnesota family donated the small, round ‘Mother Mary’s Pie’ melon to Seed Savers Exchange. Named after the donor’s mother, this melon was grown by three generations of the family since about 1914 and frequently used in pies.

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.”

Three purple eggplant with green leaves lie on a rock surface

Recipes

Eggplant Caponata

Rustic and versatile, it’s often served cold as an antipasto or appetizer or warm as a side to roast meat or as a pasta sauce or on crusty bread. Chef and SSE board member, Carina Cavagnaro believes the sweet-and-sour sauce paired with the creamy eggplant and briny notes can sway even the biggest eggplant skeptic.

A hand holding white and black speckled bean seeds.

Seed Rematriation

Planting Sacred Seeds in a Modern World

Rowen White reflects on her ancestral seed collection and the sacred significance of diverse corn varieties within the Haudenosaunee community. Through a journey of seed stewardship, she explores the cultural dimensions of biodiversity, emphasizing the role of cultural memory, tradition, and community relationships in preserving and restoring these seeds that have witnessed generations of history and nourished diverse cultures.

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.

Two young students harvest sunflower seeds from a sunflower head.

Giving

The Herman’s Garden Program: Spreading the Joy of Gardening

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.

Many trees with no foliage and tree guards around their trunks, in an open space of grass and blue sky

How Tos

How to Prepare Fruit Trees for Winter

It’s essential to properly prepare fruit trees for winter. Tree guards are the best method to protect your trees.

Varieties

New Seed Varieties – 2024

The latest Seed Savers Exchange catalog includes 20 new seed varieties and two new seed collections for 2024, and they promise to be popular picks of gardeners everywhere!

Recipes

Nana’s Pasta Sauce

Submitted by Nikki Riccelli-Tygard, inspired by her parents, Nicholas Domenico “Nick” Riccelli, Theresa Grace Ausilio Riccelli, and her “Nana” Rachel Scarcello Ausilio, stewards of the ‘Ausilio Thin Skin Italian’ heirloom pepper. “I fondly remember my adorable Nana spending time with my father, Nick, in the kitchen,” says Nikki.

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