From My Garden to Yours 2020

[Please note that this year’s seed giveaway ended on January 25, 2020.]

This month spotlights yet another wonderful reason to work with seeds: the pass-along factor. If you’re lucky enough to have local gardening friends, sharing your favorite plants is a simple matter. For more distant trading, it’s possible to send plants through the mail, of course, but that’s tough on them, and paying for expedited delivery is hard on your wallet too. Seeds condense all that planty goodness into small, easy-to-mail bits of happiness.

There’s also the sentimental aspect of sharing and receiving. As a giver, you get the good feeling of knowing your prized plants will have a new life in another state, another region, or even another country. And when you are the lucky recipient, you get the pleasure of remembering the giver and the gift. Share them in turn, and you become part of the pass-along chain. That’s how heirloom varieties get preserved, after all, and that makes you part of history!

On a personal scale, sharing seeds is simple form of horticultural insurance. If you keep a special plant all for yourself and it meets an untimely fate, it’s gone for good. But if you’ve given some of the seeds away, there’s a chance you can get it back from someone you shared it with.

I could go on with many examples of wonderful seeds I’ve received through the generosity of other gardeners over the years, either directly or through seed exchanges. But I’m sure most, if not all, of you are here for the highlight of the year here at Hayefield: my annual seed giveaway. So, let’s get to it!

There are two ways you can get free seeds: by placing an order through my Etsy shop or by sending me a self-addressed stamped envelope. Please read the details below. I hope to keep this offer open from January 15 through Sunday, January 25, 2020. I may have to cut off the requests sooner if my supply of giveaway seeds runs out, though, so I suggest that you get your request in quickly. Also, please do not post this offer on any other site.

Requesting through My Seed Shop

If you place any order through my shop, Hayefield on Etsy–even just one packet of seed, plus shipping–you can request two free packets from any of the over 220 seeds I currently have available there, or from the “Special List for Hayefield Readers” near the bottom of this post. The shipping cost of $3.15 (waived if you spend $35 or more) covers the postage and a padded envelope to protect the seeds you order. Please note that I ship Etsy orders only within the U.S..

Put the names of your requests (along with one or two alternates, please, just in case one of your first choices gets sold out), in the “Note to Seller” section on the checkout page. Do not put them in your cart, or you will get charged for them and then I will have to arrange for a refund. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me through Etsy or directly at nan@hayefield.com before placing your order. I normally fill orders the same day they’re placed, but I may get a little behind if I get a lot of orders at once, so I hope you’ll be patient with me.

Requesting through Hayefield

If you prefer not to place an order through my shop, or if you live outside of the U.S., that’s fine too; I’d still be honored to share some of my garden with you. The list below includes an eclectic collection of 50 seeds I’ve picked out from my complete list: many of my own top favorites, along with some oddities, “test” varieties, and Hayefield exclusives. They are all open-pollinated and grown here at Hayefield without any chemicals. Those with location information are sustainably collected from native populations in my meadow areas. About half of these offerings are different than last year, so be sure to read through all of the options. (Some of you may recognize seeds that you have shared with me in the past in this list!)

Please choose one or two you’d like to try, along with one alternate just in case your first choice isn’t available, and let me know in a comment on this post, in an email (nan@hayefield.com), or in the contact form at the very end of this post. I will respond by email to confirm your request and give you my mailing address so you can send me a self-addressed stamped envelope, or to get your address if you live outside the U.S.. If you do not hear back from me within 24 hours of making your request, either I didn’t get your request or my response went astray, so please try again with a different method.

If you want more information on any of these before making your choice, most of the names are linked to their respective page in my Etsy shop, where you’ll find a photo, description, and germination information. The few that aren’t linked are from my “Special List for Hayefield Readers” at the bottom of this post.

The List for 2020

Abelmoschus moschatus ‘Mischief’ (Musk Mallow)
Agastache foeniculum ‘Golden Jubilee’ (Anise Hyssop)
Amaranthus ‘Hopi Red Dye’ (Amaranth)
Amsonia rigida (Stiff Bluestar)
Andropogon gerardii (Big Bluestem) [Bucks County, PA]
Asclepias syriaca (Common Milkweed) [Bucks County, PA]
Baptisia alba (White False Indigo)
Baptisia australis (Blue False Indigo)
Baptisia ‘Hayefield Hybrids’ (False Indigos)
Bean ‘Forelle Fliederfarben’ (Pole Bean)
Bean ‘Ping Zebra’ (Lima Bean)
Bouteloua curtipendula (Sideoats Grama)
Browallia americana (Amethyst Flower)
Bupleurum rotundifolium (Thorough-Wax)
Centratherum intermedium (Brazilian Bachelor’s Button)
Ceratotheca triloba (South African Foxglove)
Collomia grandiflora (Large-Flowered Collomia)
Cosmos sulphureus (Sulfur Cosmos)
Cryptotaenia japonica f. atropurpurea (Purple Mitsuba)
Cuphea ‘Firefly’
Datura metel (Devil’s Trumpet)
Eryngium yuccifolium (Rattlesnake Master)
Helenium puberulum (Rosilla)
Helleborus x hybridus (Hybrid Lenten Rose)
Hibiscus trionum (Flower-of-an-Hour)
Ipomoea purpurea ‘Carnevale di Venezia’ (Morning Glory)
Lespedeza capitata (Round-Headed Bush Clover)
Lilium formosanum (Formosa Lily)
Maackia amurensis (Amur Maackia)
Nicandra physalodes ‘Splash of Cream’ (Variegated Shoo-Fly Plant)
Nicotiana sylvestris (Woodland Tobacco)
Nicotiana tabacum ‘Variegatum’ (Variegated Tobacco)
Papaver ‘Lauren’s Grape’ (Annual Poppy)
Patrinia scabiosifolia (Golden Lace)
Pennisetum glaucum ‘Jester’ (Purple Millet)
Petunia integrifolia
Physocarpus opulifolius “Black and Gold Mix” (Ninebark)
Platycodon grandiflorus (Balloon Flower)
Raphanus sativus var. caudatus (Dragon-Tail Radish)
Senna marilandica (Wild Senna)
Silybum marianum (Milk Thistle)
Sorghastrum nutans (Indian Grass) [Bucks County, PA]
Sporobolus heterolepis (Prairie Dropseed)
Tagetes minuta (Mexican Marigold)
Tinantia erecta (Widow’s Tears)
Tomato ‘Lutescent’
Tridens flavus (Purpletop Tridens) [Bucks County, PA]
Tripsacum dactyloides (Eastern Gama Grass)
Zea mays ‘Old Gold’ (Variegated Corn)
Zizia aurea (Golden Alexander)

Special List for Hayefield Readers

I don’t currently have the seeds below for sale; they’re available only through this giveaway.

• Baptisia ex ‘Twilite’ (ex Twilite Prairieblues False Indigo): Hybrid ‘Twilite’ blooms with deep purple flowers. I can’t promise what flower colors these seeds will produce, but I’d expect a range of blues, purples, and yellows–probably similar to what you’d get from ‘Hayefield Hybrids’, but these would also have some other species in their background. Full sun to light shade. Perennial; Zones 4 to 9, probably.
• Blephilia ciliata (Downy Wood Mint): Also known as Ohio horsemint, this eastern U.S. native grows in clumps of 12- to 18-inch tall stems topped with tight whorls of pinkish purple summer flowers (something like a cross between an agastache and a monarda). Bees love it; deer don’t. Full sun to partial shade. Zones 4 to 8.
• Calceolaria mexicana (Mexican Slipper Flower): Also known as pouch flower or pocketbook plant, this annual flower is rarely seen in gardens–ideal for those who enjoy growing something different. The seeds are VERY tiny, so be prepared to receive what looks like a bit of dust! They sprout readily in warm, moist conditions and grow quickly to produce upright, red-tinged stems that carry hairy leaves and an abundance of small, bright yellow “pocketbooks” in summer. The plants generally grow 12 to 18 inches tall. Full sun to partial shade. Annual.
• Carum carvi (Caraway): Grow your own caraway seeds for cooking and baking! The plants form a basal clump of lacy green leaves, then send up 2-foot-tall, branching stems with umbels of white blooms. Full sun. This herb apparently can behave like an annual in some conditions, but it always grows as a biennial here.
• Hyssopus officinalis (Hyssop): The true hyssop (not anise hyssop), this mint-family member forms bushy, woody-based clumps of slender stems clad in narrow, deep green, aromatic leaves and topped with spikes of purple-blue flowers in mid- to late summer. Outstanding for bees! Full sun to light shade. Perennial; Zones 4 to 9.
• Ipomoea purpurea ‘Blueberry Twist’ and ‘Jamie Lynn’ mix (Morning Glory): I received this mixed seed as a gift from the originator of both strains, and I like it so much I’m passing it along. The ‘Blueberry Twist’ blooms are fluffy and double-like with varying amounts of white and blue. ‘Jamie Lynn’ is a single with palest blue to pink flowers with a slightly darker pink blush in the center. Both were quite vigorous and looked splendid together! Full sun to light shade. Annual.
• Iris domestica ex ‘Hello Yellow’ (Blackberry Lily): Formerly known as Belamcanda flabellata ‘Hello Yellow’, the parent plant is a compact blackberry lily that reaches about 18 inches tall in bloom, with yellow flowers. I assume the offspring will be similar, but the seedlings I’ve grown haven’t bloomed yet, so I’m not 100 percent sure about that. Would be cute even if orange, though, and you’d get the interesting clusters of black seeds either way. Full sun is best. Perennial; Zones 4 to 8.
• Rudbeckia triloba ‘Prairie Glow’ (Brown-Eyed Susan): Four- to 5-foot-tall, branching stems with an abundance of daisy-form flowers in varying amounts of gold, orange, bronze, and near-red. It’s a spectacle from summer to fall. The flowers attract pollinators, and birds love the seeds; expect volunteer seedlings from the seeds they miss. Full sun. Biennial or short-lived perennial; Zones 3 to 8.
• Ruta graveolens (Common Rue): Bushy, woody-based, 2-foot-tall clumps of aromatic, blue-gray foliage with yellow flowers in early to midsummer. A host plant for black swallowtail, giant swallowtail, and other butterflies! Full sun. Perennial; Zones 4 to 8.

I hope you see something you like! Below is the request form, if you want to tell me your choices that way. Or, let me know in a comment on this post, or in an email (nan@hayefield.com). As I mentioned above, I will respond by email to confirm your request and give you my mailing address so you can send me a self-addressed stamped envelope (or to get your address if you live outside the U.S.). If you do not hear back from me within 24 hours of making your request, either I didn’t get your request or my response went astray, so please try again with a different method.