Her War

Interpreting Women's Lives during the American Civil War

Garden Seeds

Return to Kitchen Garden

The following are seeds varieties listed with the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, which they have dated to before 1870:

Bean
Asparagus
—Green Pod Red Seed [Pre-1860]
Purple Hyacinth
—[Pre-1802]
Scarlet Runner
—[Pre-1750]
Black Valentine, Stringless
—[Known prior to 1850]
Taylor’s Dwarf Horticultural
(Shelly, Wren’s Egg)—[Dates to early 1800s]
Sulphur
(Golden Cranberry, China Yellow)—[Introduced about 1839]
Genuine Cornfield
(Scotia, Striped Creaseback)—[Possibly pre-Columbian, cultivated by Iroquois]
Kentucky Wonder
(Old Homestead)—[Introduced before 1864, then known as Texas Pole]
Potomac
—[Dates from Virginia side of Potomac before 1860]
Ruth Bible
—[Kentucky since 1832]
Blue Coco
—[Pre-1775 French heirloom]
Worcester Indian Red—[Reported Native American, pre-1868]
Beet
Chioggia (Dolce di Chioggia) Early Season—[Pre-1840 heirloom]

Cabbage
Early Jersey Wakefield[about 1840]
Early Flat Dutch–[pre-1875, possibly pre-1855]
Premium Late Flat Dutch—[1840]

Carrot
Long Orange Improved
—[Introduced in 1620 by Dutch breeders and brought to North America by early settlers]

Celery
Large Smooth Prague (Turnip Rooted Celery)—Celeriac [Pre-1870.]

Corn
Bloody Butcher Dent—[Introduced about 1845]
Blue Clarage (Ohio Blue Clarage) Dent
—[developed west of Appalachian Mountains in Ohio/WV area between 1830 and 1850]
Reid’s Yellow Dent
—[1840’s]
Black Mexican (Mexican Sweet, Black Iroquois)
—[1864]
Stowell’s Evergreen Sweet—[1856]

Eggplant
Listada de Gandia Bicolor—[France about 1850]
   

Kohlrabi
Early Purple Vienna—[prior to 1860]

Lettuce
Black-Seeded Simpson—[about 1850]
Oakleaf—[about 1771]
Schweitzer’s Mescher Bibb—[1700s]
Tom Thumb—[pre-1850]
Tennis Ball—[pre-1804]

Okra
Cow Horn—[pre-1865]

Onion
Yellow Potato (Yellow Multiplier, Hill Onion, Mother, Onion)—[prior to 1790]

Parsley
Dark Green Italian (Plain Leaf)—[by 1807]

Parsnip
Hollow Crown (Sugar)—[before 1850]

Pepper
Cayenne, Long Red—[pre-1827]

Pumpkin
Connecticut Field (Big Tom, Yankee Cow)—pre-1700
Seminole—[in Florida in 1500s]
Small Sugar (New England Pie)—[Pre-1860]
Tan Cheese—[pre-1824]

Radish
White Icicle (Lady Finger)—[pre-1865]
Black Spanish Round—[pre-1824]
China Rose (Rose Colored Chinese, Scarlet China Winter)—[about 1850]

Scallop
Early White Bush (White Patty Pan) Squash—[pre-1722]

Squash
New Zealand Summer—[1772]
Yellow Crookneck—[about 1700]

Tomato
Large Red—[by 1843]
Red Cherry (Old Fashioned Red Cherry) —[before 1840]
Riesentraube—[Pennsylvania Dutch by 1855]
White Wonder—[pre-1860]

Turnip
Amber Globe (Yellow Globe)—[prior to 1840]

Period Seed Dealers      Saving Seeds in the Civil War