The History of Seed Packets by Andrew Hall
In recent years, there has been a trend to collect old seed packets as they are small and quite easy to store; many can turn up in unusual places and they certainly do add attraction to any vintage horticultural display and are a great starter to spark a lively conversation at any vintage show.
To any keen gardener, a seed packet could be described as ‘new life in a bag!’ but to a historian in horticulture, they are the living link between the famous plant hunters, nurseries, plantsmen and the famous gardens and plant collections around the world.
Seed houses are a very important part of horticulture, their history can be very interesting, perhaps in most cases overlooked but when investigated in depth, can provoke great interest to how they were marketed, using well-known brands, and a form of early advertisement used, was not without its villains.
From the 1700’s until today, there has been many changes in horticulture but still the seed packet has survived. In the early days, packets would have been sold direct from nurseries but later from specialist shops which could be found in most towns or cities, which sold seeds and young plants as well as other garden sundries. The local ironmonger always had a display of seed packets.
In the early 1960’s there was a great change as the first of the garden centers arrived, killing the small plant shops on the High Street. Seeds today can be found in Supermarkets, online and still in most local ironmongers and hardware merchants.
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A sight to be held in Spring, a well cultivated garden, with rows of young plants breaking through the tilled earth and at the end of each row, a marker stick penetrating a paper seed packet with a picture on it of dreams of fresh produce to come. How many times have we gone looking for a seed packet of yesteryear, only to find it in the draw of a garden shed and finding it had already been discovered by vermin!
One of the founding fathers of the Garden Centre was a company called Pennels & Sons Ltd, Founded in 1780 by Richard Pennel at his nursery in Storton on Stow, Lincs. His Grandson, Charles Pennel was one of the first nurserymen to popularise the tomato, their company today is being run by their eighth generation and have been producing seed packets from the 1850’s.
One of the most famous seed houses was that of Webbs. Edward Webb & Sons began c.1850 from their nursery in Wordsley, near Stourbridge. In 1897 they became seedsmen to Queen Victoria and held the appointment up to Queen Elizabeth II.
In 1960, Webbs merged with another famous seed house Bees which was founded in 1861. During the merger they moved sites to Chester and in 2004 sold the business to Unwins Seeds. Years later, Unwins brand name was sold to Westland Horticultural which operated in Northern Ireland.
What about the villains, you ask! From the earliest of times, there have been those, who used old seed, seed that had low qualities of germination and some nurseries would make up their own varieties. By 1920, the government had passed the Seed Act, banishing a lot of these early practices.
Suttons of Reading was established in 1806, under the original name of The House of Sutton They were originally corn and maize merchants operating from premises in King Street, Reading. By 1837, Sutton’s sons had joined the business which now expanded to selling seeds of flowers and vegetables and by 1840 they had built their own laboratory for testing seed for purity and germination. In 1920, Suttons became the first seedsmen to be licensed by the government and in 1858 gained royal patronage to Queen Victoria and by 1871 held a Royal warrant. In 1962 they moved sites alongside the London to Bath Road (A4) near Reading. In 1965 they became the first seed house to sell seed packets with foil inserts for the seeds.
Another famous firm Carters Seeds, founded by James Carter in 1804 in High Holborn, London. By 1837 Carters produced their first seed catalogue and by 1880 had gained royal patronage. From 1910 they had found a new site at Raynes Park, London SW20 where they built test beds for all their varieties of seed. After many difficult years of trading, they sold the site in 1970 to the local council for housing and had moved to Dee Mills in Llangollen. In 1966 they had merged with another seed house Cuthbertson, established in 1797, who gained a relationship with ‘own brands' companies like Woolworth’s. The merger then allowed Carter’s to be a brand for higher status customers.
In general, the 1960’s were a bad time in many of our well-known seed houses and it was commonplace to have mergers and take-overs. In 1965, Cuthbertson purchased another famous seed house in Scotland called Dobbies. Around the same time Suttons merged into the same group and by now the whole company was owned by Airwick, which in 1985 had changed hands to Reckitt & Coleman. The famous seed house companies were just brands on paper packets and the seeds inside sourced from the same place! In 1998 there was a management buyout by Suttons, who moved first to Torquay but latterly to Paignton, Devon.
Meanwhile, there was many regional seed houses which fared a lot better; one was R A Taylor of Kings Lynn, Norfolk, established in 1770 and was still running from their original premises at 142 Norfolk Street Kings Lynn. However, they ceased trading in 1982 but still having many of their original fittings. Dunns of Gillingham, Dorset was founded in 1832 as corn merchants but became general seed merchants. Their seed packets can be still found from the 1970’s.
Meanwhile, there was many regional seed houses which faired a lot better; one was R A Taylor of Kings Lynn, Norfolk, established in 1770 and was still running from their original premises at 142 Norfolk Street Kings Lynn. However, they ceased trading in 1982 but still having many of their original fittings.
Dunns of Gillingham, Dorset was founded in 1832 as corn merchants but became general seed merchants. Their seed packets can be still found from the 1970’s.
In any collection there are always the favourites whether by colour or design, or even rarity and age. For me, I always look out for Fisher Son & Sibley Ltd, established in 1871. Their nursery of 250 acres was in Handsworth, Sheffield. They specialised in plants and were also seedsmen to most Botanical Gardens around the UK. Sheffield Botanical Gardens being a main contender as my relationship with SBG was as an indentured apprentice in botanical horticulture and I trained at SBG in the 1970’s.As for Fisher Son & Sibley Ltd, their nursery was built soon after the Second World war and became the site for James Neil Tools, latterly owned by Tesco’s.
The HD Trust seed packet collection extends to over 800 packets from different countries and includes advertisements from the 1850’s to the 1980’s.
Visit the websites of The House of Sutton and Sheffield Botanical Gardens.
Sheffield Botanical Gardens Trust