Lupine Seeds

Lupine loves the acidic soil in Tasha's field and puts on a beautiful show every June that never fails to delight us. They share the field with milkweed and other acidic-loving plants. In the summer butterflies of various varieties flutter peacefully over the flowers, many monarchs among them. We love to watch as lots of little monarch caterpillars hatch and grow in this magical field. Then the show finishes and the lupines create brown fuzzy seed pods that curl and pop open to reveal shiny black or brown seeds. We then harvest them, pulling the ripe seed pods off their stems and putting them into baskets. but we always let a few fall down into the soil, to grow up and add to this amazing show.

After collecting them, we usually place a large piece of builder's plastic on the ground, add some pieces of lumber and prop a large window screen on the wood so air can circulate underneath. We place the seed pods on the first screen and cover it with a second to keep the flung seeds somewhat contained. 

After the late summer sun departs, we scoop everything back into paper bags overnight to avoid any dew. We repeat this process for a few more days or until the seed pods have all twisted and split and released their seeds. 

Above: Photo by Richard W Brown from Tasha Tudor's Garden. Tasha walks her Nubian goats through her field. Rest assured that corgis are far easier to lead than goats.

It's something to see the hopeful seeds gathered in Tasha's potting shed while the snow blankets the frozen ground outside.

Heirloom Hollyhocks

Our hollyhocks are a beloved family heirloom and sorting the seeds out takes some care. Hollyhocks seeds are contained in a fuzzy pod whose chaff irritates the skin, but all of it is worth the show when they bloom.

Our seeds are open-pollinated and we never know what color the offspring will turn out to be, it's always beautiful though! Learn more about open pollination and hollyhocks in general in our Tasha's Heirloom Hollyhock post.  

Our hollyhocks bloom in ivory, pink, magenta and yellow. It's a delight to discover the myriad varieties and the subtleties of expression. 

Garden Myrrh Seeds

The sun leaves us quickly in early January. We finished sorting the garden myrrh as the sun filled the potting shed with a rosy glow. Time to warm our fingers and return another day to finish. 

 Purchasing Seeds

Our farm-raised seeds go live in the Secret Garden category of online shop on January 18, 2022. (Note: Nearing the end of January, there are only a few varieties left. Please look for them again next January.)