By BARBARA & KEN BEEM
Antique Week Correspondents

Who wouldn’t be seduced by the lush, colorful pictures, the vibrant renderings of gorgeous flowers and bountiful fresh produce? You, too, could be enjoying such wonders in your garden in just a couple of weeks. Thumbing through seed catalogs in the dead of winter or strolling through the hardware store with a case of spring fever: who wouldn’t buy a pack of promises for a handful of change? Forget about the hoeing and tilling, weeding and watering. This year could be different, and the garden, simply magnificent.

Of course, realizing those high expectations isn’t without some effort, and somehow, that initial burst of enthusiasm can get lost in everyday life. Time can get away from the casual gardener, and not all seeds are planted. Those that are sown are all too often neglected, eaten by bugs or birds, or left to languish under the hot sun of a dry summer.

That’s not always the case. Some seeds do make it into the ground and are nourished thereafter. And often, at the end of a row or the edge of a bed, the packet that once held the seeds is attached to the ground with a twig or stick, as if to urge the plants on to greatness by showing them an illustration of their potential.

But what happens to the rest of the seed packets? Some are saved by individuals, either as a deliberate choice, a way to keep a piece of art in miniature, or merely by chance, just tucked away in a drawer and forgotten.  Over the years, companies that package seeds have shut their doors, their inventories intact. And stores that once sold them have been abandoned, their goods left behind.

Enter the collector. These packets are once again being saved and treasured, remembrances of another era. Today, collecting seed packet illustration is indeed a blooming pastime.

Of course, seeds were not always sold this way. Until early in the 19th century, they were sold in bulk, by volume or weight. That changed with the idea of selling seeds in a little envelope, the simple but genius marketing notion of The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing. This celibate religious sect, also known as the Shakers, flourished in America in self-contained communities in New England and New York state.  Promoting a self-sufficient lifestyle, they were expert gardeners by necessity. They often sold their surplus crops as well as seeds, in order to raise money for the things they had to buy. And it was in 1816 that they revolutionized the seed industry by packaging and selling small quantities of seeds in small, unadorned paper envelopes, which were in turn packed in plain wooden boxes.

Just as the marketing of seeds changed over time, so did the way consumers shopped for them. Irwin Richman, author of Seed Art: The Package Made Me Buy It and a retired professor of American studies, noted that in the early days of seed merchandising, ”You went in to a store and asked for what you wanted and it was served up.” Two things happened to change the way seeds were sold. By the mid-19th century, B.K. Bliss and Sons offered mail order sale of seeds. And later in the century, D.M. Ferry revolutionized the way seeds were purchased in stores. Working with F. W. Woolworth, Ferry’s seeds were offered for sale at a counter accessible to customers: soon the stores were displaying the packets in seed racks, or “commission boxes.” No assistance from a clerk was needed.

All the while, the appearance of seed packets became more and more important. Because plain little brown envelopes, like those introduced by the Shakers, are not visually exciting, something had to be done to catch the eye of the consumer. What followed was the budding industry of seed illustration.

The earliest marketing method involved neither packets nor illustrations; instead, lists of seeds for sale were advertised in newspapers. Later, traveling salesmen hit upon the idea of demonstrating their wares with sample illustrated plates, some of which were drawn free hand; others, hand-tinted prints. The compilation of catalogs was next in this natural progression. These first catalogs were not illustrated and were still little more than lists. But flowers and trees, fruits and vegetables have long been popular subjects for painters and illustrators. It was a perfect marriage, then, when marketing embraced art for the sale of a tiny product. David Landreth and Sons of Philadelphia is believed to have produced the first seed catalogs in 1811; B. K. Bliss and Sons of New York City included color plates in their mail order catalog in 1853. 

The printing process itself evolved through the years: seed packets that were originally decorated with hand-tinted lithographic prints ultimately benefited from the development of chromolithography. This complex process required a separate stone printing plate for each color. Because up to 20 colors might be involved in each rendering, this procedure was extremely labor-intensive. But the results have enduring beauty; Richman pointed out that many collectors of seed art focus on examples dating from the “golden age” of chromolithography, the latter years of the 19th century.
Collecting vintage seed packets need not be an expensive endeavor. Richman said to expect to pay anywhere from $1 to $10 per pack. His personal favorites include illustrations of tomatoes. He added that collectors sometimes decide on a specific brand, or maybe a certain type of flower or vegetable. Others make their selections along aesthetic lines.

Sharing his enthusiasm is Terry Kovel, co-author of The Label Made Me Buy It and herself a seed packet collector. She appreciates the accessibility of these little gems. And thanks to the discovery of stores of seed packets in warehouses about 10 or 15 years ago, it’s not difficult to collect them by the hundreds – or thousands, according to Kovel. “If you go to a flea market and hit the right guy, it’s easy.”

She noted this is a user-friendly category for beginning collectors, although she advised caution: reproductions are being sold, particularly of the beautifully decorated wooden boxes the Shakers eventually used for shipping their seed packets.

Seed packet illustrations can be very beautiful, and there are a number of ways to enjoy them. Grouped and framed, they make an attractive graphic statement on any wall, she said. They can be stored for viewing in archivally sound albums; choice examples can be displayed on an old seed packet rack, as the Kovels do. And with a bit of creativity, they can be used in many other ways. “We send them for Valentines,” she concluded. “Everyone who gets them from us loves them.”

For more information, and to enjoy beautiful pictures of seed art, check out Seed Art: The Package Made Me Buy It, by Irwin Richman, published this year by Schiffer Books.