Bountiful Gardens closed its doors and its website in 2017.
In response to many requests, we are posting links to our favorite small seed companies. We celebrate the
existence of so many good ones.
All of these companies have signed the safe seed pledge, and have missions we support. They all sell open-pollinated
seed. None are owned by larger entities (as of 2018). Many are farm-based and run by individuals or families. Please respect
that these folks are hard-working and sometimes short-handed.
All are worthy of your support. We list them by region:
California:
Open Circle Seeds Small farm-based company in GMO-free Mendocino County.
Redwood Seeds Farm-based company run by a family in north-central California.
Quail Seeds A seed source started in 2018 from Bountiful Gardens' longtime catalog and newsletter
writer. They also sell Tree Collard Cuttings.
Northwest:
Wild Garden Seed Showcases farm-original lettuces and other greens as well as large selection of
flowers. Frank Morton's essays are the best critique of the GMO and plant-patenting issues we have seen.
Adaptive Seed Farm-based company showcasing varieties they have collected from around the world that
are particularly well suited to the Northwest climate.
Southwest:
Native Seed Search Seeds of ancient native varieties indigenous to the Southwest as well as adapted
varieties of familiar vegetables.
Plains:
Prairie Road Organic Seed The Podoll family has been growing and breeding seed on their North Dakota
Farm for 2 generations.
Midwest:
Seed Saver's Exchange One of the original founders of the Heirloom movement.
Southeast:
Southern Exposure Seed Exchange Well-chosen seeds for the challenges of Southern weather. Many
historic heirlooms of the region.
Northeast:
Fedco Seeds A cooperative, set up to support small farmers and home gardeners. Broad choice of
varieties and types of seed, with customers nationwide. The catalog is great reading.
For medicinal herbs, trees, and shrubs
We recommend
Strictly Medicinal, for a wide variety of excellent seed as well as excellent advice on growing them.
Bountiful Gardens was started as an educational non-profit business in 1985 to provide access to
vanishing heirloom
seeds, and to raise awareness of the importance of seed-saving, organic methods, and open-pollinated (heirloom)
seeds. Now these are all household words. Dozens of heirloom seed companies, seed libraries, and seed swaps
now exist. Our mission has been accomplished and we thank you for being part of it. Please keep the momentum we began going forward:
plant a garden wherever and however you can. Use open pollinated seeds, save and share your seeds with others, grow organically, and love the Earth.
Ecology Action, our parent non-profit, will continue its mission to teach people to grow food and soil using sustainable, small-scale Biointensive gardening. We encourage you to subscribe to their newsletter, take a class or a workshop, watch their teaching videos, download their free publications, and donate to help keep their work going.
This work by Bountiful Gardens is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.