Select Seeds - Antique Flowers offers gardeners a fabulous selection of unique, high-quality flower seeds and plants, specializing in old-fashioned fragrant flowers, flowering vines, and rare annuals and perennials. Many antique flowers are hard-to-find heirlooms, passed from one generation to another. The goal of Select Seeds is to make certain every generation can enjoy the blossoms that were grown yesterday and long before that.
What began as a fledgling passion for the unique flowers from our horticultural past and a desire to share this love with gardeners is now 31 years old! The simple pleasures of a handful of sweet and spicy nasturtiums in a vase, of honey-scented sweet peas gathered at their peak of dewy freshness, the joy of discovery as a new favorite annual flower unfolds before you, the feeling of community as we share our bounty of freshly gathered cut flowers, organic vegetables and hand gathered seeds-this promise of summer resides in a packet of seeds or a young plant ready to grow!
The first catalog was a thin black and white leaflet with antique varieties of perennial seeds. The first year I had about 50 orders in total, all from a little classified ad in the back pages of a gardening magazine!
Today, we offer a curated collection of plants and seeds of the best varieties of annuals, tender perennials and perennials, including many heirlooms and "best in class" new varieties. It will continue to evolve and grow in time, I'm sure, but I'm equally sure it will always celebrate family, farm and flowers.
Our mission calls for new respect for our common resources of seed, soil, water, wildlife and community; by saving rare heirloom flowers, by producing organically certified flower seeds and naturally grown plants, by enhancing habitat for pollinators with open-pollinated and native flowers, and by strengthening our commitment to share our seed bounty with schools, seed libraries, non profits and Cooperative Extension agencies that teach the importance and the joys of gardening.
Did you know that bee pollinators provide one of every three bites we take of food? And bee pollinator populations are declining worldwide? If you're like us, you may have heard of the colony collapse disorder that is devastating honeybees worldwide, and wondered how we as gardeners can help. There are many species of bees, some, such as the honeybee, colonize. Others are solitary, but all pollinate our vegetable and fruit crops. Planting flowers of diverse species that bloom at different times of the year helps attract bees of all kinds and enables them to continue their invaluable work for us. We invite you to explore the world of bee pollinators and create a garden filled with our pollen and nectar rich flowers.
We are committed to working and living green. We have a 15 KW solar panel filling every spot of our warehouse roof. It has been working great these last 4 years and we have significantly reduced CO2 emissions because of it. We capture rainwater inside 3 tanks buried beneath the greenhouse floor that hold 4,500 gallons of rainwater we use to irrigate the plants. And, our application is in to retrofit our greenhouse for significant energy savings. We'll keep you posted on that project as it unfolds!
We are committed to providing free flower seeds to schools, Cooperative Extension and Master Gardener outreach projects. Send us a letter with your project "wish lists" and we will be happy to help.
"Agriculture and seeds provide the basis upon which our lives depend. We must protect this foundation as a safe and genetically stable source for future generations. For the benefit of all farmers, gardeners and consumers who want an alternative, We pledge that we do not knowingly buy, sell or trade genetically engineered seeds or plants.
"The mechanical transfer of genetic material outside of natural reproductive methods and between genera, families or kingdoms, poses great biological risks as well as economic, political, and cultural threats. We feel that genetically engineered varieties have been insufficiently tested prior to public release. More research and testing is necessary to further assess the potential risks of genetically engineered seeds. Further, we wish to support agricultural progress that leads to healthier soils, genetically diverse agricultural ecosystems and ultimately healthy people and communities."
Varieties in our catalog marked Organic are certified organic by Baystate Organic Certifiers.
