This 5-packet collection is a fun mix of our colorful varieties! A great mix of crop types that are guaranteed to brighten your plate! All seeds are grown by Appalachian Growers Seed Collective farmers. If you want to learn more about the farmers and the varieties, then check out the individual variety pages! The collection includes one standard packet each of the following seed packets.
Purple Ultracross (collards)
Maglia Rosa (cherry tomato)
Maggie Flowers Pink (bunch bean)
Texas Emerald (southern pea)
Waimanalo Orange (flint corn)
Purple Ultracross Collards (Brassica oleracea): This collection of purple-tinged collards is the beginning of an all-purple Ultracross, selected from the original cold-hardy selections first planted in 2020. There’s a beautiful diversity of leaf shapes and color combinations in this highly adaptive and evolving collection of collards. Growing and selecting favorites from this mixture is an opportunity to be a part of this nationwide community science backyard breeding project. Beyond the beauty of purple itself, there’s some evidence that the high anthocyanins that come with the color help deter some of the pesky Brassica pests!
Maglia Rosa Cherry Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum): A standout from our trials for excellent disease tolerance, and a heavy producer, this low-acid tomato remains delicious even late in the season. Perfect fresh or dried and packed in oil.
Maggie Flowers Pink Bunch Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris): A productive, tender, delicious, string bean in just six weeks, even in cool spring weather. Pods mature from green to a beautiful pink and produce pink seeds at their dry bean stage. “Bunch” bean is Southern Appalachian for “bush bean," and these beans produce their early crop on convenient, compact plants. Their namesake, Ms. Maggie Flowers of Burkesville, Kentucky remembers neighbors and family members growing these beans at least back to her grandparents' generation. We're proud to offer this rare piece of Appalachian heritage to gardeners everywhere, and hope that many people grow and share them in the tradition and generosity of Ms. Maggie Flowers!
Texas Emerald (Vigna unguiculata): Michael Fortune, the original seed steward, got a mix of Texas Emerald one and two from Buffalo seed company several years ago in a seed trade, and has been saving them since. Although he thinks Hog Brains is his favorite cowpea for eating, Texas Emerald has a much better disease resistance and field holding in our typical wet/humid late summer weather in WNC. With upward shooting stalks and obvious full pods, Utopian farmers also love this pea for its easy harvesting and fun color.
Waimanalo Orange Corn (Zea mays): A Cateto-like dark orange flint corn developed in Hawaii and brought to North Carolina. Waimanalo Orange started by crossing a number of breeding lines from Jim Brewbaker, a long-time tropical maize breeder in Hawaii focused on disease resistance, with a breeding population from Frank Kutka, a maize breeder from the Upper Midwest.
This 5-packet collection is a fun mix of our colorful varieties! A great mix of crop types that are guaranteed to brighten your plate! All seeds are grown by Appalachian Growers Seed Collective farmers. If you want to learn more about the farmers and the varieties, then check out the individual variety pages! The collection includes one standard packet each of the following seed packets.
Purple Ultracross (collards)
Maglia Rosa (cherry tomato)
Maggie Flowers Pink (bunch bean)
Texas Emerald (southern pea)
Waimanalo Orange (flint corn)
Purple Ultracross Collards (Brassica oleracea): This collection of purple-tinged collards is the beginning of an all-purple Ultracross, selected from the original cold-hardy selections first planted in 2020. There’s a beautiful diversity of leaf shapes and color combinations in this highly adaptive and evolving collection of collards. Growing and selecting favorites from this mixture is an opportunity to be a part of this nationwide community science backyard breeding project. Beyond the beauty of purple itself, there’s some evidence that the high anthocyanins that come with the color help deter some of the pesky Brassica pests!
Maglia Rosa Cherry Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum): A standout from our trials for excellent disease tolerance, and a heavy producer, this low-acid tomato remains delicious even late in the season. Perfect fresh or dried and packed in oil.
Maggie Flowers Pink Bunch Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris): A productive, tender, delicious, string bean in just six weeks, even in cool spring weather. Pods mature from green to a beautiful pink and produce pink seeds at their dry bean stage. “Bunch” bean is Southern Appalachian for “bush bean," and these beans produce their early crop on convenient, compact plants. Their namesake, Ms. Maggie Flowers of Burkesville, Kentucky remembers neighbors and family members growing these beans at least back to her grandparents' generation. We're proud to offer this rare piece of Appalachian heritage to gardeners everywhere, and hope that many people grow and share them in the tradition and generosity of Ms. Maggie Flowers!
Texas Emerald (Vigna unguiculata): Michael Fortune, the original seed steward, got a mix of Texas Emerald one and two from Buffalo seed company several years ago in a seed trade, and has been saving them since. Although he thinks Hog Brains is his favorite cowpea for eating, Texas Emerald has a much better disease resistance and field holding in our typical wet/humid late summer weather in WNC. With upward shooting stalks and obvious full pods, Utopian farmers also love this pea for its easy harvesting and fun color.
Waimanalo Orange Corn (Zea mays): A Cateto-like dark orange flint corn developed in Hawaii and brought to North Carolina. Waimanalo Orange started by crossing a number of breeding lines from Jim Brewbaker, a long-time tropical maize breeder in Hawaii focused on disease resistance, with a breeding population from Frank Kutka, a maize breeder from the Upper Midwest.
