The 5 Best Places to Buy Seeds for Your 2024 Garden

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“In the depth of winter,” philosopher Albert Camus wrote, “I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.”

It must have been the day a seed catalog arrived.

Oh, the dreams of July and anticipation of August, the visions of vermilion strawberries, crimson tomatoes, crisp green beans, ears of corn as big as shoes and as golden as treasure. These are the midwinter stock-in-trade of garden catalogs, and their wares are winter fancies that bring summer reality.

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of seed and plant purveyors in the United States, and their catalogs are among the most cheerfully optimistic modern media, invariably written, photographed, and designed on the sunny side of the street.

Dating back in America to David Landreth’s 1784 Philadelphia seed-selling company—popularizer of tomatoes, among other delights, to avid growers Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and James Monroe—the industry had its start in 1612 at the annual farm fair in Frankfurt, Germany, where Dutch grower Emanuel Sweert distributed a sales list of flower bulbs. In the United States, W. Atlee Burpee enlisted color printing and decorative illustrators to make his catalog a widely anticipated winter mailbox item in the 1870s.

Today, there are general-purpose, mass-market catalogs, such as Burpee’s and Jung’s, the foundations of the industry. There are vegetable-specific titles, such as Jung’s Totally Tomatoes. There are organic-only catalogs, such as Uprising, in Bellingham, Washington. There are regional purveyors, such as Territorial, the West Coast colossus in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and David’s Garden Seeds, near San Antonio, offering varieties for the harsh Gulf Coast climate. Seed saver catalogs honor ancient human traditions, and brand new efforts such as New York’s Row 7 Seeds are a hybrid of old and new approaches. Specialty catalogs focus on specific items—roses, lilies, medicinal herbs. All this is in addition to the big companies such as Monsanto, though the latter typifies the industrial, high-input chemical-intensive side of agriculture, while the catalogs that go to American households largely steer away from that horticultural philosophy; in fact, several of the companies that follow make a point of declaring they are not owned by Monsanto. They all reject GMO plant varieties as well.

What unites these myriad enterprises is one of nature’s most wonderful, but overlooked, marvels.

“We live in a world of seeds,” points out biology popularizer Thor Hanson, author of “The Triumph of Seeds.” “From our morning coffee to the cotton in our clothes, seeds are the overlooked bedrock of diets and economies around the globe.”

Gardening offers us the opportunity to share in the plant kingdom’s universal abundance.

I used to walk in the shade With those blues on parade [but] Life can be so sweet On the sunny side of the street.

Louis Armstrong’s famous lyrics are the ethos of every garden catalog. So get your order ready. Spring’s just around the corner.

Seed Savers Exchange

• Based in: Decorah, Iowa
• Varieties available: 600
• Try these: Provider green beans; German pink tomato; Amish paste tomato; Chioggia beets
• Website: SeedSavers.org

Based in Iowa, SSE is America’s largest and most visible organization dedicated to what may be the oldest form of human commerce: trading seeds. The fact that it publishes a catalog from which anyone can order is a nod to the realities of modern life; seed-trading, once common among human households, is probably not among the top thousand human activities anymore. SSE works to restore that ancient legacy, explained Jeanine Scheffert, the group’s education and engagement manager: “Trading seeds is a natural part of gardening. It’s not really an add-on.”

Green Nutmeg Melon. Courtesy of Seed Savers Exchange

Waltham Butternut Squash. Courtesy of Seed Savers Exchange

SSE is both a seed purveyor and a seed bank; as the latter, it stores 20,000 heirloom vegetable varieties, making it the largest non-governmental seed bank. The hundreds of varieties on offer in the annual catalog represent famous, treasured types such as the Cherokee Purple tomato, Provider bean, and Dragon carrot. Ms. Scheffert’s personal favorites, which she grows every year, include Good Mother beans and Waltham winter squash.

She says that the trend most apparent to her in gardening is a growing awareness of regionality—a sweet corn suitable for Iowa is likely a poor choice for the Northwest coast, for instance. Young gardeners are also fascinated by individual heritage that may pertain to their own garden choices, such as Amish and German tomato breeds.

Good Mother Stallard Bean. Courtesy of Seed Savers Exchange

“When society loses its connection to food and seeds, we lose our sovereignty over what we eat—and our understanding of it,” Ms. Scheffert said.

“Plants and people have been in partnership as long as there have been people. We are part of each other’s family.”

Provider Green Bean. Courtesy of Seed Savers Exchange

Native Seeds/ SEARCH

• Based in: Tucson, Arizona
• Varieties available: 500
• Try these: Beck’s Gardenville okra, Caje Muni cowpea, DiMeglio arugula, Casados multicolor corn (a high elevation variety)
• Website: NativeSeeds.org

So many of the world’s food crops have their origins in Mesoamerica that their priceless antecedents can become lost in the global agriculture arena, which is growing ever more industrialized and heedless of its roots. This Sonoran Desert organization was founded in 1983 to gather, preserve, and popularize the traditional varieties of foods, fruits, and flowers that were life-giving to the Western Hemisphere’s original inhabitants, as well as the European settlers who migrated westward over the past 500 years. Many are rare types still close to their wild ancestors, such as the chiltepin chiles from which many modern hot peppers are descended.

Chihuahuan Ornamental. Courtesy of Native Seeds/SEARCH

DiMeglio Arugula. Courtesy of Native Seeds/SEARCH

The NS/S seed bank conserves nearly 2,000 crop varieties that are particularly suited to arid-lands growth such as in the American Southwest—foods such as chile peppers, beans, squash, corn, and more that formed the mainstay of life in North America for thousands of years. Approximately 500 of those varieties are listed for purchase each year. Today, NS/S is also focusing on food sovereignty, expanding knowledge about and community-based production of the varieties it has preserved—as its website states, “the foods our grandparents used to grow.”

Casados Multicolor Corn. Courtesy of Native Seeds/SEARCH

Beck’s Gardenville Okra. Courtesy of Native Seeds/SEARCH

Totally Tomatoes (J.W. Jung)

• Based in: Randolph, Wisconsin
• Varieties available: 300 tomatoes, 190 peppers
• Try these: Black Krim tomato; Brandywine yellow tomato; Green zebra tomato; Corno di toro red pepper
• Website: TotallyTomato.com

Nathan Zondag’s kids’ summer vacation daily activities included browsing their dad’s tomato patch to bring ripe fruits to the kitchen.

“They spent a lot of time with me collecting tomatoes from our backyard for dinner,” Mr. Zondag recalled. “It is truly a blessing how excited they are to eat the food they had a hand in growing.”

As well they should be.

Zondag is president and CEO of J.W. Jung & Company, which publishes Totally Tomatoes, a compendium devoted to what may be the most popular garden vegetable in the United States.

Oaxacan Jewel. Courtesy of Totally Tomatoes

Heartbreakers Dora Red. Courtesy of Totally Tomatoes

Jung’s 68-page 2024 catalog will contain more than 300 different tomatoes and 190 peppers and will be mailed to about 750,000 customers. All told, Jung’s eight different catalogs, which range from beans and tomatoes to general garden seeds, go to more than 5 million American households. The company’s overall mission includes a focus on what Mr. Zondag calls proven varieties: OP (open pollinated) and heirloom types that “have stood the test of time—they produce delicious, beautiful fruit that has been enjoyed for hundreds of years.” That said, TT adds new types each year.

Mr. Zondag’s own preferences reflect that vast variety.

“I like to grow a few different tomatoes each summer,” he said. “I usually include Sunsugar, Sweet Million, and Early Girl, then try some new varieties to see what kinds my kids will especially like.”

Giant Garden Paste. Courtesy of Totally Tomatoes

Having started in the seed business at the age of 4 with his grandfather, founder J.W. Jung’s son, Mr. Zondag has seen seed-selling evolve for decades. He’s heartened to observe that younger Americans are gravitating toward backyard gardening.

“It’s a youth movement to get young families into the garden, a surge of people 25 to 40 years old who have taken up gardening for the first time. And with that, we have seen a push to container gardening to try to find ways to grow food in smaller spaces.”

Green Zebra. Courtesy of Totally Tomatoes

Territorial Seed

• Based in: Cottage Grove, Oregon
• Varieties available: 800
• Try these: Deadon winter cabbage; Oregon sugar pod pea; Yellowstone carrot; American giant sunflower
• Website: TerritorialSeed.com

Now nearing a half-century in business, this Willamette Valley mainstay of West Coast gardening focuses on vegetable, flower, and small fruit varieties suitable for growing west of the Cascades in the Pacific Northwest. Territorial epitomizes the regional seed catalog, and it has thus helped popularize the idea that, like politics, all gardening is local. Founder Steve Solomon focused on selling only varieties that demonstrated proven results in his trial gardens near Cottage Grove, Oregon. Now owned by Tom and Julie Johns, Territorial has not veered from that mission since those early days in the late 1970s.

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The company’s separate winter gardening catalog, which arrives in June, reflects the fact that growers in their region can produce vegetables year-round—as long as they are using proven, appropriate varieties.

Row 7 Seeds

• Based in: Newburgh, New York
• Varieties available: 20
• Try these: Badger Flame beet; Beauregarde snow pea; Midnight Roma tomato; Delfino cilantro
• Website: Row7Seeds.com

A collaboration among chefs and horticulturists, Row 7 calls itself a “seed company dedicated to deliciousness.” It’s actively using classic techniques to create new varieties that go beyond the 20th century’s focus on “breeding for the box,” explained company president Charlotte Douglas.

Courtesy of Row 7 Seeds Co.

Badger Flame Beet. Courtesy of Row 7 Seeds Co.

“Plant breeders have access to incredible genetic diversity—unique flavors, textures, colors—but they typically have to operate within a rigid commodity system. They’re asked to focus on traits like uniformity, shelf-life, and ship-ability. Our goal was to bring chefs, farmers, and eaters into that process—to prioritize more delicious, nutritious varieties—and also open up opportunities for new innovation,” Ms. Douglas said.

Starting with just seven vegetables in 2018, Row 7 collaborates with more than 50 plant breeders, trials new varieties at its Hudson Valley farm, and then passes them on to 150 chefs and growers for further trials. The catalog now has 20 varieties, half of them unique to Row 7’s catalog—such as Choice, a red-yellow dent corn for cornmeal; and Badger Flame, a multi-colored, sweet but not earthy beet.

The latter “was developed by a breeder hoping to create a beet that his children would eat—and he did it,” said Ms. Douglas. “The beet is mild and sweet, with a brilliant flame-colored interior. My daughters snack on them like carrots.”

Midnight Roma Tomato. Courtesy of Row 7 Seeds Co.

Beauregarde Snow Pea. Courtesy of Row 7 Seeds Co.

Ms. Douglas says the trend that stands out most in Row 7’s business is a move away from excess sweetness.

“So many of our vegetables and fruits have been selected for single-note sweetness. I think we’re starting to see a backlash, with people demanding varieties that bring more depth of flavor—and taste more like themselves. Sweet corn is a perfect example. We’ve had countless conversations with cooks and eaters asking for a more savory, complex sweet corn.”

They’re still working on that one, so stay tuned.

Koginut Squash. Courtesy of Row 7 Seeds Co.

This article was originally published in American Essence magazine.