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Hope and Practice: Craig LeHoullier

A man smiles and holds several large green tomatoes

 ‘Participating in Seed Savers Exchange Changed My Life’

Craig LeHoullier reflects on nearly 40 years taking part in the Exchange. 

Young Craig Lehoullier surveys a flowerbed with his dad, Wilfred.
Young Craig LeHoullier surveys a flower bed with his dad, Wilfred.

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 fatherand soon-to-be grandfathermy gardening experience has grown significantly, with much of the credit going to the life I’ve lived as an SSE member.

My father, Wilfred, and maternal grandfather, Walter, planted seeds for a love of gardening in me at a very early age. Germination took decades, but finally happened as a shared desire to plant a garden when my wife, Susan, and I were newly married. The communal garden plot granted to us by Dartmouth College in 1981 (at which I was a graduate student) was fertile and prolific, providing us with more corn, peppers, tomatoes, beans, squash, and flowers than we knew what to do with at the time. 

Craig smiles from his first garden, grown in 1962 in Rhode Island.
Craig smiles from his first garden, grown in 1962 in Rhode Island.

What our gardens were not was diverse. The plants and seeds came from racks and tables at a local garden center, and though the results were certainly tasty, or beautiful, or interesting, they were pretty run of the millred tomatoes, green-ripening-to-red peppersand primarily hybrid varieties. I did begin to learn to start things from seeds at that time, but not save seeds from our crops. This first garden, in 1981, and our last in that location, 1982, though incredibly fun, were a bit boring to me because of the lack of diversity and focus on easily obtained hybrid varieties. Our 1983 garden was a tiny front-yard effort in Seattle, the location of my chemistry postdoctoral position. 

A man stands with his daughter in a garden.
Craig with his daughter, Sara, in 1984 in their garden in Villanova, Pennsylvania.

With my first professional job came our next full gardens, in 1984 and 1985, in Villanova, Pennsylvania. They were hand-dug into sod by my dad and me, and grew all sorts of wonderful thingsyet still not an heirloom in sight. The tomatoes I grew were the well-known hybrids ‘Whopper’ (my first tomato from seed) and ‘Better Boy.’ Things were now getting a bit boring in terms of the lack of true diversity in our gardens.

I subscribed to several gardening magazines at the time, such as Gardens for All and Organic Gardening. One day, I noticed a small listing immersed among the classified ads in the back pages. It mentioned Seed Savers Exchange and provided information on how to join, along with a brief description of the organization. Since I’ve always been interested in history and genealogyand had a deep concern regarding caring for our Earth and preserving species of all living thingsSSE and I seemed like it could be a perfect fit.

At the same time, my first SSE Yearbook (the 1986 edition) was on its way, I was accumulating and devouring gardening books. The original Crockett Victory Garden publications (one on vegetables, one on flowers) were fascinating, delightful reads. Two books on tomatoes (The Total Tomato by Fred Dubose and The Great American Tomato Book by Robert Hendrickson) began to tilt me toward a focus on that crop for my future seed acquisitions. The first tomato I ever enjoyed was grown by my grandfather, and that contributed to my desire to try to locate varieties that he may have grown in his gardens. My gardening objective was coming into focus an objective that continues to this day.

When the 1986 SSE Yearbook arrived in the mail, I spent a few hours flipping through the pages. It was a truly life-changing experience. The listings in the various seed catalogs that came in the mail were far surpassed by the thousands of varieties available to request through the Yearbook and grow in my gardens. What really captivated me was so much historythe actual genealogies and stories of countless varieties, many of which would have likely been on their way to extinction if not for the brilliant idea of SSE conceived and implemented by Diane Ott Whealy and Kent Whealy. The SSE Yearbooks hold much of the botanical heritage of the world. The feeling of being the kid in the candy shop swept over meit was hard to know where to begin! 

It turned out that it was a green bush snap bean that represented my entry into the world of heirloom gardening. George McLaughlin listed a bean called ‘Fowler,’ and that was my very first seed request. This spring, I grew some ‘Fowler’ in a container to replenish my dwindled seed supply. The 2024 saved seed descends from the very seed sent to me by Mr. McLaughlin in 1986. It is a wonderful bean, and the lovely, pearly aqua color of the drying bean, on its way to deep coffee-bean brown, is unique in my experience. 

Craig’s tomato harvest, July 2019.
Craig’s tomato harvest, July 2019.

I then turned to the difficult task of choosing which tomatoes to request. Little did I know the depth of my explorations in the decades to followa journey that continues to this day. My very first tomato requests were chosen to explore colors I’d yet to observe and flavors I’d yet to experience. John Hartman of Indiana supplied me with small samples of ‘Ruby Gold,’ ‘Pineapple,’ ‘Mortgage Lifter,’ ‘Czech’s Excellent Yellow,’ and ‘Tiger Tom.’ Charles Estep, a California SSE member, sent ‘Sabre’ and ‘Yellow Brimmer.’ Edmund Brown of Missouri sent me ‘Mortgage Lifter, Pesta Strain.’ ‘Persimmon’ came from Josephine Ettlinger of New York. Perhaps the most important of those first tomato requests was from Roger Wentling of Pennsylvania the famous variety ‘Brandywine,’ the seeds of which traced back to legendary seedsman Ben Quisenberry, who received the seeds from the Sudduth family. When it is happy in a particular season and garden, ‘Brandywine’ may be among the very best tomatoes I’ve tasted. 

Cover of the book "Epic Tomatoes" by Craig LeHoullier
Epic Tomatoes by Craig LeHoullier

Most of the initial tomato seed requests were grown in my 1987 garden in our new location of Berwyn, Pennsylvania. I was floored. Tomatoes of yellow, red, and gold stripes; yellow with red swirls; and pink. Tomatoes the size of golf balls and soft balls. Flavors that were sweet, or tart, or mildsome perfectly balanced, some fruity, some truly intense. I grew some well-known hybrids that year in the same garden, representing the beginning of a three-year “contest” to compare health, yield, flavors, and diversity of heirlooms and hybrids. The results, captured in an appendix in my book Epic Tomatoes (Storey Publishing, 2014), demonstrated the astounding excellence of the heirlooms in every parameter imaginable. I saved seeds from all of the heirloom types and was on my way to annually larger gardens, and accelerated seed requests, thus building my seed collection and listings in the SSE Yearbooks.

The rest is, as they say, history. I’ve accumulated, tested, saved seed from, and shared thousands of varieties of tomatoes, and I have added some sweet and hot peppers, eggplants, and beans to my seed collection thanks to the wonderful listings in the SSE Yearbooks. I received hundreds of seed requests each year, taking delight in fulfilling those requests. I have a box of every letter that I received over the years, which contains pieces of history of not only the varieties sent but also the gardeners who generously sent them. 

‘Cherokee Purple’ tomato.
‘Cherokee Purple’ tomato.

Every now and then, I received samples of seeds that were not requested, and they represent some true treasures in my collection. In 1990, John D. Green of Sevierville, Tennessee, sent me an unnamed “purple” variety that originated with the Cherokee Nation in eastern Tennessee. ‘Cherokee Purple,’ as I named it, astounds me not only in its excellence, but also in how it caught on and spread into gardens and seed collections the world over. 

In the late 1980s, I decided to attend an SSE Conference and Campout at Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa. What a treat it was to rub elbows with the Whealys, Arllys Adelmann, Joanne Thuente, Steve Demuth, Dave Cavagnero, and so many of the early members and superstar seed savers such as Thane Earle and Faxon Stinnett. I got to see some very unusual tomatoes recently received from Russia, such as the fine-foliaged ‘Carrot-Like.’ SSE generously shared many of those first-acquired Russian varieties with me, and I got to see tomatoes such as ‘Azoychka’ and ‘Black from Tula’ growing happily in my garden.

Craig LeHoullier meets a young fan at a book-signing event in 2015.
Craig LeHoullier meets a young fan at a book-signing event in 2015.

In the decades to follow, I added tomato breeding to my gardening task list and helped conceive and lead the Dwarf Tomato Breeding Project. Our team has developed over 150 dwarf growing tomato varieties, and the project’s work continues to this day. As I approach 70, now living in western North Carolina, I garden in containers and straw bales (due to our back yard being our septic field), and my gardens are smaller than they used to be. It just feels like the right time to pass the torch and passion to a younger set of gardeners, many of whom I’ve reached through my books, workshops, and weekly Instagram Live sessions.

Participation in SSE is clearly different now than when I first joined. Heirloom varieties are much more widely available from countless sources. Handwritten letters have been largely replaced with emails, texts, and social networking posts. However, the relevance of SSE has only grown, as a changing climate makes successful gardening a real challenge. The proliferation of amateur-bred tomato varieties and new creative hybrids puts the true open-pollinated heirloom varieties at a risk very similar to what the Whealys faced in the mid-1970s. If SSE were not conceived, created, and launched, much of what we now have the privilege to grow and treasure in our gardens would be extinct. Though many people are enticed to grow the shiny, newest thing depicted in clever Instagram posts, it is even more important, to my mind, to feature and stress the many superb varieties from the past that continue to excel to this day.

When I joined  Seed Savers Exchange, I was 30 years old; it is remarkable to realize how the decades have flown by. Many of those gardeners who were the early foundation of SSE, who shared their time and patience and their treasured seeds to the young whippersnappers like me, are now sadly gone but not forgotten. I want to be sure that I put effort into growing the next set of seed savers. That is the only way that we can ensure that varieties such as ‘Brandywine’ and ‘Ruby Gold’ and ‘Fowler’ survive for those who follow us to grow with joy in their own gardens.

Craig speaks at a book-launch event in 2015.
Craig speaks at a book-launch event in 2015.

It is impossible to overstate the importance of my nearly 40 years of Seed Savers Exchange membership to my life. Participating in SSE changed my life. One of my dreams was to speak at an SSE Conference and Campout event, a gift that was granted after my book was published. I have also been fortunate to participate in several tomato tasting events held at Heritage Farm. Seed Savers Exchange is not only a horticultural treasure, but also a gift to the Earth due to its role in maintaining an increasingly fragile collection of our botanical history. It is a wonderful location for visiting and feeling the impact of its efforts, on a par with Monticello in its awesome position in our United States gardening history. It is a collection of people who give so much to growing gardeners, seed savers, seed sharers, and storytellers. It is simply essential. 

Craig LeHoullier, Ph.D., of Hendersonville, North Carolina, is a longtime SSE member, Exchange lister, and advisor.


Craig’s Favorite Varieties

When you make a purchase from Seed Savers Exchange, you help fulfill our nonprofit mission to protect our food and garden heritage. 

Whole and sliced tomatoes on a counter.
Shop ‘Brandywine’ tomato

(aka Red Brandywine) The original Brandywine was introduced by Johnson and Stokes in 1889 from seeds they received from a customer in Ohio. Named after Brandywine Creek in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Large vines produce deep red 8-12 ounce fruits. Excellent flavor. Very productive.

Three deep red-purple 'Cherokee Purple' tomatoes arranged on a wood cutting board.
Shop ‘Cherokee Purple’ tomato seeds

Introduced by North Carolina Seed Savers Exchange member Craig LeHoullier in 1991 from seed obtained from J. D. Green of Tennessee. Uniquely colored dusty rose-brown fruits weigh up to 12 ounces. Delicious, sweet flesh.

Keep Exploring

To celebrate Seed Savers Exchange's 50th anniversary, we are featuring the work and inspiration of Exchange listers in the "Hope and Practice" series.