The holiday season is here! If you have a gardener, herbalist, homemaker, seed saver, or other gardener in your life, you’re in luck. We’ve put together a garden gift guide full of ideas. In each list, we’ve included a few plant ideas as well as helpful tools, resources, and books.
Garden Starter
Adopt a friend, neighbor, or family member to garden for a few of these essential needs. We’ve picked out a few easy plants for beginners and other things to help them succeed.
- Matt’s Wild Cherry tomatoes
These little tomatoes pack tons of flavor into a fierce little package. Plants are resistant to common diseases and cannot be overpowered. - Garden Instructions by Ira Wallace
Southern Exposure garden expert Ira Wallace provides home gardeners with the region-specific information needed to thrive in hot, humid climates. The IRA offers one guide for the Southeast and five region-specific guides. - Lettuce for a green salad bowl
Help your friend grow their first salad with the easy, cut and return lettuce of the Green Salad Bowl. - CobraHead Mini ‘Finger Claw’
Make splitting easy with this sturdy tool made from USA steel. SESE testers and National Garden Club testers were really impressed with the tool and all it could do. - Color Fashion Mix Sunflower
Help them brighten up their space with the easy-to-grow Sunflower One Fashion Mix. - Green Cucumber with Sliced Fingers
Give the gift of crisp, summery cucumbers with this productive, sweet, disease-resistant variety from Cornell University. - SESE gift card
Want to help them fill their entire garden with the seeds they love? Grab a SESE gift card to fill up their cart.
Heirloom Tomato Lover
Few plants seem to grow in the same temperature as tomatoes. If you have an heirloom tomato fan in your life try one of these:
- Aunt Lou’s Underground Railroad tomatoes
Give the gift of a legacy with Auntie Lou’s Underground Railroad Tomato. The seeds of these dark pink, yellow tomatoes were carried on the Underground Railroad by an unnamed black man as he crossed to freedom in Ripley, OH, from KY. The seed was passed on to Aunt Lou, who passed it on to her great nephew, and finally to tomato enthusiast Gary Millwood. - Epic Tomatoes: How to Select and Grow the Best Varieties by Craig LeHoullier
Give advice on growing tomatoes and choosing the best ones. Author Craig LeHoullier introduced Cherokee Purple to SESE and the world. He has grown thousands of tomato varieties, most of them in hot and humid North Carolina, and here he shares his hard-earned wisdom on how to grow the best tomatoes. - 50 Self-Seal Packets
Help your loved one neatly pack away their ever-growing collection of heirloom tomato seeds. These resealable packets are easy to use and perfect for taking to the spring seed change! - Amy’s Apricot Mix Cherry Tomato
Add a unique twist to your friend’s collection with Amy’s Apricot Mix. These colorful cherries are always a favorite in our tomato tasting! - Johnny’s Seedling Mat
Tomato seedlings love a little heat! Get your friend off to a great start this spring with a seedling mat from Johnny’s. - Cherokee Purple Tomato
Gift the king of tomatoes, Cherokee Purple. Few tomatoes have gained as much popularity as this sweet, dusky, pre-1890 Tennessee heirloom. - Tomato Towers
At SESE we use DIY tomato trellises like cow panels and Florida weave, but if you know someone who uses tomato cages, they’d probably like a sturdy version from Gardener’s. - Wooden Garden Labels
Help your loved one keep track of all the prized tomato varieties with these wooden garden labels. Made of untreated New England White Birch.
The Herbalist
Whether your loved one is just starting their herbal journey or has been creating tinctures for decades, these are sure to brighten their winter.
- Growing and Selling Ginseng, Goldenseal and Other Woodland Herbs by W. Scott Persons and Jeanine M. Davis
Give the herbalist in your life all the information they need to successfully grow wild herbs. This revised and expanded edition provides recommended methods for growing and marketing ginseng, goldenseal, ramps, black cohosh, bethroot, bloodroot, blue cohosh, false unicorn, galax, mayapple, pinkroot, spikenard, wild ginger, wild indigo, and other native forest herbs. . - Resina Calendula
Herbalists prize this bright yellow flower! Give a friend a pack so they can create homemade salves, lotions, and more this season. - Granite Mortar and Pestle
Herbalism is more fun when you have good tools. This beautiful, sturdy granite mortar and pestle from our friends at Mountain Rose Herbs is perfect for grinding herbs, seeds, and roots. - Spilanthes
Spiranthes is a fun plant for any herbalist to get their hands on. It is used in medicine around the world and creates a strong sensation in the mouth when eaten raw. - Mesh Strainers
Give the gift of luxury with this stainless steel strainer, crafted from fine mesh with herbalists in mind. A great tool to use in the production of extracts, herbal oils, tea infusions and decoctions, and in the production of other body care products. - Anise-Hyssop (Licorice Mint)
Give the gift of an easy-to-grow, perennial herb and culinary herb. It’s great for cool teas and attracts pollinators. This plant has a lot going for it! - Ashwagandha
Help fill your herbalist garden with Ashwagandha. This selfless plant is revered for its immune-boosting properties and ability to improve stress resistance.
Home Owner
Do you have a friend who won’t stop talking about food preservation or a family member who always dreams of buying land and getting chickens? You may have a homestay on your list!
- The Resilient Gardener by Carol Deppe
A great read for intermediate and advanced gardeners by Oregon farmer and plant breeder, Carol Deppe. Focuses on the 5 most important subsistence foods (corn, beans, squash, potatoes, and…ducks!) Great information on growing, cooking, and preserving the tastiest and most nutritious varieties. - Magic Cushaw Winter Squash
Give the gift of good productivity and nutrition with Magic Cushaw. Seed saver and grower Julia Asherman says, “We named it Magic Cushaw because it’s so pretty and always pulls, it’s hardy, and now it’s the only winter squash we grow.” - Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz
This book is a favorite among housemates and here at SESE, too. Contains about 100 home recipes for fermented vegetables (sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles); fermented beans (miso, dosas); milk (yogurt); cheese (and other vegan alternatives); sourdough and other fermented grains from Cherokee, African, Japanese, and Russian cultures; vinegar and alcohol. - Tennessee Red Cob Dent Corn
This pre-1900 seed was provided by Harold Jerrell who reported that in 1995 this variety produced a good crop with only 2 inches of rain from mid-June to the first day of September. It was one of the driest years on record in his growing area in Virginia, and it was the only variety that produced. Tennessee Red Cob is great for polenta, cornbread, corncob pies, and corncob jelly. - Corn Sheller
Give your family member a helping hand with this handheld aluminum sheller that makes quick work of corn husking. - Jacob’s Cattle (Trout) Bush Dry Beans
As productive and filling as they are, few plants provide as much food as dry beans. Jacob’s Cattle bush bean is perfect for small or large gardens and is great for soups, baking, refried beans, and chili. - Shiitake Mushroom Spawn
Help your home grow more than just vegetables by growing shiitake mushrooms from our friends at Sharondale Mushroom Farm.
The Seed Saver
Seed savers know the importance of open-pollinated varieties. They like to preserve heritage, genetic diversity, and pieces of agricultural and food history. Help improve their garden with these tools, books, and plants.
- Seed to Seed: Preserving Our Vegetable Heritage by Suzanne Ashworth
A detailed and comprehensive book on saving seeds for both beginners and experienced seedsmen. It includes all major and minor vegetable plants, many herbs, and unusual or rare vegetable plants. It discusses the evolution of pollen, methods of maintaining varietal purity, methods of seed cleaning, seed collection and storage. Essential reference for seed savers. - Cherokee Long Ear Small Popcorn
The seeds for this highly decorated heirloom came from Merlyn Niedens, who included several varieties of long-eared Cherokee popcorn sent by Carl Barnes of Turpin, OK. Carl helped save the Cherokee corns that came west over the Trail of Tears. Small grains make surprisingly large pops with great flavor! - The Seed Garden: The Art and Practice of Seed Saving
The Seed Savers Exchange has partnered with the Organic Seed Alliance to publish this beautifully illustrated volume for home gardeners and growers. An excellent supplement to Seed to Seed, focusing on some of the major families of vegetables and herbs, including new research on seed preservation. Guidelines for classifying numbers and techniques for the home garden, commercial seed plants, and variety maintenance are very important. - Utopian Ultracross Collard
This unique new seed is part of the Heirloom Collard Project which works to preserve collard stories and seeds as an important part of American food culture. This new “ultracross” collar was developed as part of a nationwide collar trial. Buying these seeds means that your seed saver will be able to choose to join our Community Seed Selection (CSS) project. If they wish, they will receive guidance and education in the process of saving selected seeds. - 50 Self-Seal Packets
Keep your seed saver organized with these easy-to-use packets. They are great for spring seed swaps! - Charlottesville Old Breadseed Poppy
This old variety was kept alive by Seed Savers Exchange members Christina Wenger and Patrick Holland. It is easy to save the seeds and its red blooms with purple areas will be very beautiful! - Popcorn Sheller
Popcorn is one of our favorite crops for beginner seed savers. Shelling it out can be a problem. Give your seed saver a little help with this hand-held sheerer that’s perfect for popcorn and other small-eared varieties. - Aunt Bea’s Beans
Each season we lose many varieties of heirloom pole beans. They don’t work in industrial agriculture, so despite their amazing taste, they are left by the wayside. Help your friend preserve some history with a bean pole like Aunt Bea’s, which was maintained by sisters Beatrice and Bernice Heuser.
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