Seed Savers Exchange

As Seed Savers Exchange celebrates its 50th anniversary, their 2025 catalog represents their dedication to preserving the diversity of our food crops. Since their founding in 1975 by Diane Ott Whealy and Kent Whealy, they’ve grown from a small but passionate endeavor into a critical steward of America’s vast agricultural heritage. Diane’s grandfather, Baptist John Ott, entrusted to them the seeds of two heirloom open-pollinated varieties, ‘Grandpa Ott’s’ morning glory and the ‘German Pink’ tomato. These seeds—brought by Grandpa Ott’s parents from Bavaria (Germany) when they immigrated to Iowa in 1884—became the first two varieties in the collection . Today, they safeguard thousands of heirloom, open-pollinated varieties, not only at their Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa, but also through an extensive network of dedicated seed savers across the country.

Each seed variety listed in these pages is a living piece of history. These seeds carry within them stories of resilience and adaptation, as well as the wisdom of generations of farmers and gardeners who have carefully cultivated and passed them down through the years. They are living symbols of our deep-rooted relationship with the land, the foods that have nourished our communities, and the diverse cultures that have shaped our collective identity. By choosing to grow these heirlooms, you’re not just planting a garden—you’re actively participating in an ongoing tradition that has molded our landscapes, cultures, and diets for centuries.

Your decision to purchase seeds from Seed Savers Exchange is a powerful contribution to the preservation of our planet’s agricultural biodiversity. Every seed packet you order directly supports their mission to conserve and share these irreplaceable heirloom varieties. Your support sustains the vital work of their seed bank, where thousands of unique varieties are meticulously preserved and maintained for future use. These efforts ensure that they can continue protecting and sharing the diversity that is absolutely critical to our food systems’ resilience, particularly as we face the mounting challenges of climate change.

Each seed in their collection holds a unique story—a tale of the people who cherished it, the places it thrived, and the meals (or perhaps beauty) it created. By growing these seeds, you become an integral part of that ongoing narrative. You’re not just cultivating plants; you’re nurturing living history and helping to write the next chapter in these seeds’ remarkable journeys!