Update 4/16/17: Landreth Heirloom Seeds did survive, thanks in part to the Gardening bloggers who raised awareness of their plight. In 2016, they were acquired by American Meadows where Landreth Heritage Seed Collections can be purchased.

Here is the announcement message on Facebook from the former Landreth Seed owners about the acquisition:

Hello, Seed Lovers! We’re here to share some pretty incredible news. Landreth Seed has found its new home in the hands of a small, successful company comprised of dedicated gardeners. American Meadows, a seed and plant seller proudly based in Vermont, acquired Landreth in 2016 – and we couldn’t be more thrilled.

We have been in the seed business since 1981 with a strong focus on wildflowers. Since that time, we have grown and added perennial plants, flower bulbs, and native seeds to our offerings.

We have long admired Landreth from afar while knowing first-hand how challenging it is for small independent businesses like ours to compete in an Amazon world. We are up for the challenge of rebuilding this notable slice of American agricultural history to its rightful place in the seed market. Bloomsdale spinach, the Extra Early pea, and the first truly white potato are all renowned introductions claimed by Landreth, the Oldest Seed House in America.

We look forward to our journey as the owners of Landreth Seed and hope that you will welcome us as we work hard to put Landreth’s name back on top, and its seeds back in the garden, where they belong.

For Spring 2017 we are pleased to be offering a very limited quantity of Landreth Heritage Seed Collections. These collectable packets come from the Landreth archives, with some of them printed over 75 years ago, but are packed with fresh seeds for 2017:

http://landrethseeds.com/

Landreth’s will be once again offering a full line of seeds for 2018 and beyond while also supporting our loyal customers with how-to guides, video tutorials, recipes and as always, the rich stories that can only be told by the Oldest Seed House in America.

Sincerely,
Ethan Platt and Mike Lizotte

NEW IDEA: Ask your local businesses related to gardening such as nurseries and feed stores that sell seed and plants whether they are aware they can pre-order these beautiful 2012 Heirloom and Vintage Seed Catalogues to ship in late November or December in time for Christmas.

They’ll make perfect holiday gifts and a unique product to offer their customers.

There is a unique reason why I am publishing this post today. The oldest seed company in the United States is in danger of going out of business and we, as bloggers and users of social media, can make sure that does not happen.

I am asking all gardening bloggers (and anyone else who is willing) to act to keep historic heirloom non-GMO Landreth Seed Company alive.

They need to raise $1 million dollars within 30 days [by September 30, 2011] – and with our help they CAN do that.

Heirloom seeds are critical to maintaining genetic diversity and preventing another major disaster like the Irish Potato Famine.

In Heritage and Heirloom Foods, Sustainable Table cites the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation “Biodiversity and Your Food: Did You Know?” statistic:

Almost 96% of the commercial vegetable varieties available in 1903 are now extinct.

Almost all corn is ONE variety and almost everything Americans eat contains that one ingredient. If that crop fails there could be widespread starvation. Food prices are already spiraling upward and will continue to do so.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:

1. Buy a seed catalog – only $5 toward making sure heirloom seeds are still available
2. Order seeds – They have many special collections including an Heirloom Seed Collection, seeds to plant a patio garden, African American Heritage Seeds and a children’s garden collection. Also check out their holiday gardening gifts (buy now for your favorite gardener and kill two birds with one stone) and seeds in a sack collections.
3. BLOGGERS: Blog in support of heirloom seeds.
4. TWITTER: Add hashtags to your tweets about #gardening #organic #eatlocal #nongmo – Anyone have others? Leave them in the comments and I’ll share them here.
5. FACEBOOK:Like LandrethSeedCo on Facebook, add them to your page’s favorites, share these tips with your friends, share any of the posts about their situation. Support other heirloom seed sources in the same way.

This Treehugger post explains How We Can Help Save One of America’s Heirloom, Non-GMO Seed Houses and other bloggers are sharing why they are rallying to keep Landreth alive:

• @MrBrownThumb started the #SaveLandreth campaign on Twitter and wrote this post at Chicago Garden:Help Save America’s Oldest Seed Company – THIS POST has the letter from the owner
• NEW: Eatocracy: A company rooted in American history refuses to wither away
• NEW: Solari: Help Save One of Americas Heirloom Non-GMO Seed Houses
• in.gredients Heirlooms and Why They Matter
• Mike Nowak Chicagoland Gardening Radio Show: Sustainable Food Fundamentals: Saving Landreth Seed Company one catalog at a time
• Nova Gardener: Save Landreth Seed Co.
• White Hat Writing: Save an Heirloom; Eat a Tomato
• Garden Girl: Please Help Save a National Treasure
• Washington Gardener: Landreth Seed Company Needs Our Help! and this wonderful Interview with Landreth Seed Co co-owner Barbara Melera that contains tips on heirloom seed varieties and answers to the most asked questions about which to plant.
• Head Butler: Could A $5 Catalogue Save America’s Oldest Seed Company?
• Huffington Post: Could A Beautiful $5 Catalogue Save America’s Oldest Heirloom Seed Company?
• Small Time Cook: Save the Seeds
• The Garden Faerie Home and Garden: America’s oldest seed company is in danger of closing “The catalog is worth the price; it is printed on thick, nice paper with old-style illustrations, beautiful photos, and plant information”…”It’s important to have smaller seed companies that sell heirloom seeds. Many larger seed companies sell only hybrid or genetically-modified seeds, and offer a limited variety of plants and flowers.”
• Home Grown Goodness Forum has more details on what happened that caused the Landreth financial challenges – a lawsuit beyond their control.
• Telegraph ~ America’s oldest seed association is in risk of closing
• Laura Bruno ~ Help Save One of America’s Non-GMO Seed Houses
• An Aesthete’s Lament~ Save D. Landreth Seed Company

[Note: all stories above were originally linked; most likely the content has been removed; it is possible the site was down long enough for the link to appear broken and be removed.]

INTERESTING: Landreth Seed Co Timeline from before they were founded in 1784 through today.

One of our primary goals is to get bloggers collaborating with other bloggers in their niche and geographic location. To that end we create pages like this one so they can more easily find each other.

Read why geographic niche blogging is important for every blogger. Below you will find a list of quality garden blogs. As time allows, those that are DoFollow and have CommentLuv and KeywordLuv installed will be moved to the top of the list.

If your blog qualifies please leave a comment to that effect with a link to your blog and your location to be included.

Below that a list of excellent lists of gardening blogs.  You can find many more excellent blogs using those lists. If you have a gardening blog list please leave a link in the comments and I will add it to that list.

If you would like to be part of a blog collaboration, be introduced to other blogs in your niche and location, or lead a blog collaboration please let me know. I offer free mentoring to groups of bloggers and am publishing a blogging collaborations process on what to do.

DOFOLLOW COMMENTLUV GARDENING BLOGGERS:

• Master Gardener Stephanie Suesan Smith’s Gardening Questions Answered, Northeast Texas

Gardening Bloggers:

Currently in no particular order (sites that are not linked failed to load when tested):

• Growing Your Greens (redirects to John Kohler’s YouTube channel)
• The Grow Network + Marjorie Wildcraft’s Backyard Food YouTube channel.
• Garden and Seeds (UK)
• Green Soil Tea
• A Way to Garden
• Veggie Gardening Tips
• Gardening Tips n Ideas
• The Illustrated Garden
• Sharing Nature’s Garden
• The Growing Edge
• Natural Gardening
• This Garden Is Illegal
• GardenRant
• Cold Climate Gardening
• Backyard Gardening Blog
• Diggin’ It
• The Survivalist Blog
• Gardening Gone Wild
• North Coast Gardening
• Veg Plotting
• Musings of a Garden Historian
• Digging
• Bumblebee Blog
• Dirt By Amy Stewart
• Your Small Kitchen Garden
• Gardener to Farmer
• May Dreams Gardens
• dlyn
• Blue Ridge blog
• A Homesteading Neophyte
• Shawn Ann’s World
• Ledge and Gardens
• Transatlantic Plantsman
• Tracylive
• Anthrome
• Garden Bliss
• Studio ‘g’
• Ewa in the Garden
• Shirley Bovshows Eden Makers Blog
• Busy-at-Home
• Northern Indiana ~ Backyard Gardening
• B&D Lilies Garden Blog
• The Garden of Eaden
• Mr. McGregors Daughter
• Miss Rumphius’ Rules
• The Texas Triffid Ranch
• Growing with Plants
• Compostings
• Bella Madris
• Kale for Sale
• Down to Earth
• Daphne’s Dandelions
• Gardenmama
• Throwback at Trapper Creek
• The Family Garden
• One Green Generation
• Skippy’s Vegetable Garden
• Homegrown
• Limes & Lycopene
• Suburban Sharecroppers
• Sicilian Sisters Grow Some Food
• Sono-Ma
• Flower Hill Farm
• Maybelline’s Garden
• Black Hills Garden
• youPlants.com

Gardening Blog Lists:

• BlogRank Top 50 Gardening Blogs
• Cold Climate Gardening: Garden Blog Directory by Location
• Sheila Lennon’s Annotated List of Garden Blogs at Projo
• Veggie Gardener: Top 15 Best Gardening Blogs
• A Sonoma Garden: List of the Best Gardening Blogs

THREATS TO GARDENING:

Bills that have ALREADY PASSED that impose outrageous penalties of up to $1 MILLION dollars for sharing food we grow or raised:

1. First watch The Garden Police are Coming to understand the issues.
2. Obama Signs 35 New Laws Including Food Safety!

GARDEN LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS:

• Feds Raid Amish Dairy
• Police Begin “Guns Drawn” Raids on Organic Food Stores in California
• Organic Farms and Gardens Destroyed by HR 875: The Food Safety Modernization Act
• LeaveMyFoodAlone.org Petition to Defeat HR 875

Why do these kinds of links always end up taken down? Hmmm…

Note: This post was originally published on  9/5/11. Updated 4/16/17.

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