Piqua Seed Library
Photos by Julie Kramer
Piqua, Ohio—In spring 2020, the Piqua Public Library, with its long history of gardening programs, began allowing patrons to take home a small plant or seed packet and informational handout every week for 25 weeks.
“I began saving native plant seeds from my yard and was given some donations from local gardeners and friends,” says Courtney Denning, who was the seed library manager before Angie Winsler took the reins.
The library shared 1,648 seed packets and seedlings, and the idea for a seed library—where borrowed seeds could be used at home and, after the plants matured, seeds could be returned and shared—took root. The centuries-old act of seed saving, which now has lateral roots in preservation, activism, economics, and community building, creates seed stock well suited to the local climate and more pest-resistant plants. One of the first seed libraries opened in 2000; now, hundreds exist.
The library solicits donations from companies, including Seed Savers Exchange, Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply, Prairie Moon Nursery, Ohio Prairie Nursery, Ferry-Morse, American Seed, and Burpee. Area gardeners are also generous with donations. In recent years, the Piqua Library’s collection has included more than 250 varieties (150 for 2024) —some heirloom and open-pollinated, some organic, and some grown conventionally.
While donating seeds is not a requirement to borrow, the staff encourages patrons to do so if they’d like, focusing on plants that produce well or are an enjoyable color, shape, or size. The library suggests starting out with mostly self-pollinating plants that produce seeds in the same season, such as beans, lettuce, tomatoes, and peas. (Seeds saved from hybrid plants can’t be donated because they will not produce offspring that are true to type.)
Just as valuable as donated seed is all the correspondence from enthusiastic borrowers who share news of how their seeds germinated and grew.
The Piqua Seed Library
116 W. High St., Piqua, OH
937.773.6753
Kara is a freelance writer and editor, a managing editor at Lost Art Press, and a contributing editor at Writer’s Digest magazine. She lives with her family in Fort Thomas, KY. You can read more of her work at PleiadesBee.com.
