Huge gratitude to Ginny Hunt of the wonderful Seedhunt.com, “Seeds of California Native Plants and More”, for being up for answering a few questions via e-mail.
Previous articles about her work include “Unusual Seeds For Curious Gardeners” (2004; Archive), “Sowing Wildflowers” (2009; Archive), “Hunting for seeds: Watsonville woman”s website offers hard-to-find natives, salvias, restios” (2018; Archive), “Growing Restios in California” (Archive), and her own article “A Seedy Business” [PDF] (Archive) from the Proceedings of the International Plant Production Society, Volume 54 (2004).
How did you get interested in plants and horticulture? Did you grow up gardening and enjoying nature?
As a child, my family went camping every summer in the Sierra Nevada and those experiences instilled a deep desire to learn about and be in nature. My parents had a summer garden, but I wasn’t too involved with it.
My first (accidental) job in the nursery industry was potting plants at a local nursery when I was about 25. I loved it and eventually went back to school to learn more about plants.
How did you get started in the seed business? Any connection with your college degree?
Seedhunt was started because there have always been a lot of plants that are not well known because seeds aren’t available. It was not started to provide income, though I do make enough money to continue. But I like to grow plants and collect seed, and the business is a way to share plant enthusiasms.
I learned a lot about plant biology for my college degree. I learned about growing plants by working at the UCSC Arboretum, Western Hills and Suncrest Nurseries and in my own little nursery.
I see that back in 2004, you mentioned around 1/3 of your plants are natives. For your 2025 catalogue, it looks like it’s now mostly natives. What’s led you to shift more towards CA natives?
My working life was at nurseries, some with gardens and there are so many beautiful plants from other countries that do well in California. I was — and still am — interested in plants that do well in California’s Mediterranean climate.
California natives have always been my favorite plants. I hike a lot and growing plants I see is always interesting. I want to get to know plants — see how they grow, flower and set seed. After the initial growing, I continue to grow the plant and offer seed if I like the plant. Growing plants for seed takes a fair amount of dedication at every stage, and I am reluctant to continue growing plants unless they are interesting (on some level) to me.
Who were the biggest helpers on your path to starting Seedhunt? Any particular horticulturalists you’ve taken inspiration from?
I have learned a lot about plants (and seeds) from Ray Collett (UCSC Arboretum), Marshall Olbrich (Western Hills Nursery) and Nevin Smith (Suncrest Nurseries). But my business has been an independent venture, a place where I could grow plants that I like.
What were some challenges you faced in starting your business?
The biggest challenge has been needing to be home tending my seed plants and wanting to be out looking for new species to grow. I always think there will be a spring where I don’t grow any plants so I can go on longer trips and hikes, but every December I find myself planting seeds.
What’s a typical work day look like for you? Is it just you running the business or do you have some others helping out? Do you still use roughly the same methods mentioned in your 2004 article “A Seedy Business”? I’ve been amazed by how fast your turnaround time is, and I love the flower themed stamps. Thank you.
Every day (and season) is so different. I have always been the sole worker, although I have had helpers who come and water when I am away.
Seed germination time is late December to March, young plants need moving along. Seed harvest is typically May to early fall. Plants move in and out of growth, production, etc.
Plants are watched in all stages, plants need to be vigorous, seeds are collected when fully ripened, which can mean twice daily checking on warm days for some species like lupines.
Methods are still mostly the same as in the 2004 article. I don’t use my car as a seed dryer much anymore (my back room works as well). Cleaned seed is stored in a separate seed refrigerator, keeping good viability for many years. There are few international orders these days because the EU requires phytosanitary certificates and I don’t provide them.
The USPS has made the flower themed stamps too difficult to continue (tracking not available), so now it’s all bar codes.
Fast turnaround these days is because I have retired from my working life, and it is easy to send the seed quickly.
What are some favorite CA natives that you’d like to see come into wider cultivation and use?
I don’t think of plants quite like that. I do hope that people will try seeds of different plants, and appreciate plants based on other factors than long or showy bloom.
I would hope that some people might be interested to just watch the life cycle of many different plants.
How do you feel about the future of native plant gardening in California? What makes you optimistic or pessimistic?
I am hoping people will stay connected to the natural world. I am optimistic by nature, and ever hopeful.
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