SmartSeeds is the seventeenth in my Sunday series featuring American Artisans. There are so many exceptionally talented craftspeople, designers, and small companies across this country and this is my chance to introduce them to you. These artisans are creating beautiful, useful and delicious products that elevate the experience of everyday cooking, dining, and entertaining. They’re using skills, techniques, and materials that might otherwise be lost in our era of mass production. Their work makes me happy, and I hope it does the same for you.
Mia Myers is a master gardener, landscape designer, and the woman behind SmartSeeds, a premier supplier of rare and exotic seeds from around the world. The company is located in sunny Claremont California, where just 100 years ago, the entire town was Mia’s great grandfather’s lemon ranch! She now lives on the family homestead where she collects and grows a mind boggling array of rare seeds that you won’t find anywhere else. She’s dedicated her life to making sure these seeds, (and their wonderful flavors!) don’t simply disappear. If you’ve got a green thumb, or just wish you had one, SmartSeeds is a wonderland of inspiration, I’m so excited to introduce them to you today.
Right about now a lot of you are scrambling to start your gardens. Spring is springing, or is about to spring, in most of the country and many of us are thinking about planting, whether it’s a small container garden on the deck or a full-on vegetable patch. You hardcore gardeners have had your seeds ready for weeks now, I’m sure, but luckily, it’s not too late to get started. There’s still plenty of spring and summer ahead and SmartSeeds has us covered.
“The seeds we offer are rare because they are not domesticated, hybridized, or genetically modified for human convenience. You won’t find them in your local garden center…”
Mia says that she loves being able to supply plant varieties and flavors from all over the world that people may miss or have trouble finding here. Whether her seeds allow you to return to your roots or explore new flavors, I’m sure you’ll find something intriguing. Growing your own ingredients, even if it’s just a small pot of cherry tomatoes (like the Mexican Midgets, below) on your porch, brings a whole new level of enjoyment to cooking and eating.
“As a Landscape Designer, I learned to build gardens that take care of themselves. If you understand what a plant needs and where it came from, you won’t have to pour chemicals on it, tie it up, mow it down, or beat it into submission.”
I think we can all appreciate things that take care of themselves! SmartSeeds also offers a great Germination Guide on their website to help ensure that your growing goes as smoothly as possible.
SmartSeeds has an amazing array of peppers, which are fun to grow and add color and flavor to so many dishes. There are heirloom seeds from Bolivia, Chile, Tunisia and Trinidad — from the hottest of the hot, to the super sweet. If you love peppers like I do you need to check them out. The plants tend to be small, so you can grow them right in pots on a sunny porch even if you don’t have a garden.
One of my favorite sections on the site is the Garden Collections — Mia has put together carefully curated and functional collections that make fabulous gifts — instead of that obligatory bottle of wine, why not bring your host a beautiful collection of seeds! There are classic Windowsill Herb or Salsa Collections, and even a unique Sushi Garden — that’s everything you need for garden fresh sushi, from the heirloom Japanese sushi rice to the black sesame seeds!
Check out SmartSeeds and let me know what you find! I’m salivating over the gorgeous heirloom tomatoes. With a bit of effort you can expand your culinary horizons beyond the supermarket, beyond the farmers’ markets, and beyond the big seed catalogs and your local nursery. This is exciting stuff, let’s get planting!
Those look like some pretty interesting seeds. Stuff you cannot find at the regular grocery store. Too bad I am not a gardner!!
I’m not a big time gardener either, Gloria, but I am really tempted to start some big pots this year.
I’ve always wanted to start my own garden. This would be a great start!
We don’t have our seeds yet! Yeah I will be ordering soon. We always look for the “real” deal when it comes to seeds. Thanks Sue – another great post featuring an amazing woman and her really special company.
This is amazing! Everything looks so beautiful! I am going to share this with my husband (he’s the gardener in the family) so he can check out SmartSeeds. He will love it!
I’m in love with her heirloom beets! So pretty!
Gosh, I wish I had found this 3 weeks ago. I already started all my tomatoes for the year! I’ll save your information for next year
Thank you, SmartSeeds, for doing this!
It’s pretty important work, for sure.
As soon as I plant something it starts to commit suicide! Brown thumb 🙁 I have beautiful raised bed gardens that are almost all shade. Lots of hostas and ornamental grasses, some herbs. But I do have containers on an upper deck that gets good sun. Tomatoes, poblanos grow well there. What else? Love your blog and draw from it often!
I notice Mia has a section on shade plants, Kathi — so keep trying! 🙂
Just what I’ve been looking for!
Fabulous, beautiful and making me long for the growing season (soon! 🙂