The Endless Fascination of Heirloom Plants

Photo Credit: Neil Conway from Flickr

 By: Jean Meyers

Heirloom plants are plants with a history.  The seeds are passed down from generation to generation.  Many made their way from distant lands, sewn in the hems of of clothing immigrants wore on their journey here.  It must have provided comfort looking forward to growing familiar foods in their new homeland.  Until the 1930s sharing and selling these heirloom seeds were the primary ways farmers and gardeners procured and planted their crops.

In the 1930s seed companies began developing hybrid varieties, plants that were a cross between two other varieties, bred to obtain the best features of each.  Hybrids are frequently stronger, more uniform, and more disease resistant.  Many have sturdier skins and travel better to distant markets.  Hybrid seeds do not reliably reproduce and seeds must be purchased each year.  These hybrids caught on nationally with farmers and gardeners, making our food supply more standardized and  less varied.  In many places hybrids replaced heirlooms,  resulting in the loss many hundreds of heirloom varieties.  

We are now seeing a welcome return of interest in diverse cultures and ethnic foods.  This includes the return of many delicious and unusual plant varieties to our gardens and farm stands.  Kentucky Wonder beans, Black Beauty eggplant, Yellow Crookneck squash, and Black-Seeded Simpson lettuce are heirlooms that have always been popular.  Now we are able to grow and enjoy hundreds of their cousins from all over the world.  We can have fun and learn a lot of surprising new things by saving and exchanging seeds with other gardeners.

For more ideas on where to buy heirloom seeds consider Seed Savers or Johnny’s Seed.