Adults Events and Programs

The Seed Lending Library is a place for our community to share and trade seeds that have been harvested locally. In most cases, this means that the plants that grow from these seeds will do better than store bought seeds since their "parents" are acclimated to our microclimate and soils. The seed library is divided into four categories: Vegetables, Herbs, Native Plants, and Flowers.

How It Works

Whether you are new to gardening or a seasoned master gardener, you can benefit from this seed library! Come to the Main Library, browse through the seed packets and find something that you want to grow. Please only bring seeds that have been grown under organic (e.g. non-pesticide) gardening conditions.

Our Collection

The seed library is currently housed in a re-purposed library card-catalog. There are several bins with individual seed envelopes containing : Vegetables, herbs, flowers, and native plants. There is also a bulk seed bin with bags containing a yellow sticker indicating that the borrower should not take the entire bag but instead use the seed envelopes provided and take only what you intend on growing. Some seed envelopes contain pink stickers; these indicate a shortage in supply of these seeds or that they are a unique variety; we therefore kindly request that you take only 3 to 5 individual seeds (again, using the provided envelopes to take them home with you.) 

Collecting Seeds

Once you successfully grow your plants, you might let a couple go to seed (i.e. produce flowers, then mature seed pods), and collect them. The library has books on seed saving. If you have seeds to donate, you can use the free envelopes provided by the Seed Lending Library to store them (please label the packets with seed type and date harvested).

Questions about gardening or seed saving? Please send an email to the Seed Lending Library program or stop by to speak with an experienced volunteer (check our library calendar as the schedule is frequently updated).

You can find the "Seed Catalog" by the information desk. Please use the associated binder to document your activity so we can keep the seed inventory up to date.