The Seed Garden receives major book award

The Seed Garden – the Art and Practice of Seed Saving has been named one of the top five gardening books published in North America in 2015. The award is given annually by the American Horticultural Society (AHS).

The Seed Garden, a collaboration between Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) and Organic Seed Alliance, was five years in the making and details the seed saving practices for more than 70 crop types. The book, which was written with the backyard gardener in mind, was authoredby Micaela Colley and Jared Zystro and edited by Shanyn Siegel and Lee Buttala. The book is published by Seed Savers Exchange.

“This is a tremendous honor for those of us who are dedicated to protecting our gardening heritage through seed saving,” SSE Executive Director John Torgrimson, who published the book, said. “This book provides the tools to save heirloom and open-pollinated seeds, a skill that many of us have lost over the years.”

Other 2016 award recipients are:

● The Art of Gardening by the Chanticleer Gardeners and R. William Thomas (Timber Press)

● How Plants Work by Linda Chalker-Scott (Timber Press)

● Planting in a Post-Wild World by Thomas Rainer and Claudia West (Timber Press)

● Seeing Seeds by Robert Llewellyn and Teri Dunn Chace (Timber Press)

The 2016 Book Award Committee was comprised of sevenAHS members: Jeff Cox, a garden communicator and designer in Sonoma County, California; Rita Hassert, a botanical librarian at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois; Susan Hines, a garden communicator in Hyattsville, Maryland; Jim Long, garden communicator and owner of Long Creek Nursery in Blue Eye, Missouri; Mary Ann Newcomer, a garden communicator in Boise, Idaho; Doug Oster, a garden columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and radio personality based in Pennsylvania; and Anne Marie Van Nest, a garden communicator and horticulturist in the Niagara Falls area of New York.

“This is the only book [The Seed Garden] people will need to grow plants and save their seed," says Cox. Rita Hassert praised it for providing "critical information packaged in an attractive way." Oster agrees, calling it "an indispensable, brilliantly written, and beautifully illustrated resource."

The 2016 Book Awards will be presented on Thursday, June 2 during the Great American Gardeners Awards Ceremony and Banquet at River Farm, the AHS’s national headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. For more information about The Seed Garden visit seedsavers.org/the-seed-garden-the-art-practice-of-seed-saving.

Seed Savers Exchange is a nonprofit organization located in Decorah, Iowa, with a mission to conserve and promote America's culturally diverse but endangered garden and food crop heritage for future generations by collecting, growing, and sharing heirloom seeds and plants.

The American Horticultural Society (AHS), founded in 1922, is an educational, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to making America a nation of gardener. Its mission is to open the eyes of all Americans to the vital connection between people and plants, to inspire all Americans to become responsible caretakers of the Earth, to celebrate America’s diversity through the art and science of horticulture; and to lead this effort by sharing the Society’s unique national resources with all Americans.