Tudor Family Legacy

Our 2024 offerings include the popular heirloom hollyhock and heirloom poppy seeds. These plants are descended from those originally grown on the island of Nahant off the coast of Boston by Tasha’s ancestor, Fredric Tudor in the mid-19th century. He is known as the “Ice King” for his success in shipping ice to warmer climates by sea. In his later years, he was a devoted gardener.

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Above: Flower color varies among our heirloom lettuce poppies.

Above: Our heirloom hollyhocks vary in color. Here is the cream variety.

Generations later, Tasha’s grandson Winslow and his wife Amy cultivate, harvest, sort, and pack the seed envelopes - all by hand.

The 2023 growing season was a wet one making the harvest of dry seed pods a challenge. As usual, quantities are limited. Remember, in 2023, most varieties sold out within two hours. 

Above: Tasha on her porch with a Nubian goat kid.

Information about the New Seeds

Tasha Tudor Collectible Seed Packets 

We hear that many of you save your seed packets as Tasha’s art adds such charm. We are pleased to introduce three new packet designs for the first time since 2012. We hope you enjoy these darling rays of sunshine. 

Tasha Tudor’s Mystery Rose Seeds

Though we have offered these in years past, it has been a while. This year we outsmarted the squirrels and chipmunks to harvest rose hips from Tasha’s mystery roses. We tell ourselves we outsmarted them, but in truth, they had ample food and didn’t dine on the rose hips, leaving them to ripen. 

Candelabra Primrose - Primula japonica

Our family primula japonica started in Tasha’s daughter-in-law Marjorie Tudor’s garden. She shared them and they became a dependable resident of Tasha’s wildflower garden among the rhododendrons along the stream that runs to her pond. This primrose begins blooming in the spring with its first candelabra. As the season advances, the stem grows up through the center of the first candelabra and will bloom in a second row as the first round of flowers fade. This continues into a third and sometimes fourth circlet of flowers. This primula crosses with itself readily to produce infinite, subtle variations. It doesn’t care for bright sun, so give this treasure consistently moist soil and a shady locale. 

Verbascum - Verbascum chaixii

Just as the showstopping peonies surrender to summer heat, Verbascum begins its showy dance of spires. It will let the wild black-eyed susans and daisies lead the way, sending its spires up among them and opening over an extended period. It loves sun, doesn’t mind poor soil, and doesn’t like standing water. It will politely self-sow and the first plants will return for several years. Like many self-sowers, it prefers to jump out and bloom in the lawn but can be moved while young, while the taproot is small. The mid-summer insects thrive on its long bloom and bees cozy up in the snug flowers. Once the seed heads have developed, the spires can make lovely magic wands for children to shake over rocks or other hard surfaces so the quiet sound of the seeds landing can be enjoyed. 

Meadow Rue - Thalictrum rochebrunianum

Thalictrum was a favorite of Tasha’s in both New Hampshire and Vermont. When it is happy, thalictrum’s stately, quiet presence is like that of the favorite relative who is always there for you. Sprays of airy lavender flowers rise above the lacy, refined, columbine-like foliage in late summer, when both garden and gardener are starting to feel in need of a rest  Late summer insects of all sorts love the diminutive blossoms. We take great delight when the ruby-throated hummingbirds zip in for a drink. Like many shade-loving plants, it will also excel with more light, so long as the soil's moisture level is quite wet. The shadier the location, the drier the soil it can tolerate. Thalictrum stays quite beautiful through to forming distinctive tiny seed pods, which are lovely dried. 

Tasha Tudor’s Garden Legacy

Our seeds are open-pollinated, which means the insects and in some cases the wind, pollinate the flowers. In some cases, the flower colors may vary from the photos as cross-breeding is likely. For instance, the hollyhocks, lupines, and primroses have endless subtle variations. The flower colors of the campanulas, verbascum, mystery rose, sweet cicely, and forget-me-not rarely alter.

Since tours of Tasha’s home and gardens are postponed indefinitely, we love being able to share a piece of her remarkable home with you through seeds from her garden. We love that they are going out into the world to grow in gardens across the U.S.

Above: Tasha's garden circa early 1990s. Photo by Richard Brown.

On February 17 at noontime EST, look in the Secret Garden section of our online shop for sweet rocket, forget-me-not, foxglove, yellow foxglove, sweet cicely (garden myrrh), lupine, heirloom hollyhock, campanula, columbine, heirloom lettuce poppy as well as verbascum, primrose and meadow rue, and mystery rose seeds. Details about some of the other flowers.

Remember, you won't see the seeds listed in the Secret Garden category of our online shop until the release time. We recommend testing the login to your account ahead of time, or you can choose to checkout as a guest. Thank you for supporting our work to the living parts of Tasha's legacy with your seed purchase. Good luck!

Notice: Seeds are intended for personal use only. Growing plants for sale is only available via licensing and is otherwise prohibited under intellectual property law. We regret that we no longer ship seeds internationally due to issues with customs. Some of the seeds we offer are considered invasive in some states. Such prohibitions will be listed in each plant description.