Hope Seeds Vegetable Seed Listing
used for Family Pack Assortments

All the items listed below are open-pollinated and chemically untreated seed. Most are older varieties which have proven reliable for production and success under wide variable growing conditions for many years. None of the below items are genetically modified organisms, rather they have been selected under traditional random mass seed production techniques from seed producing farms in California, Oregon, Colorado, and Missouri. We select from this list as we customize an assortment for each ministry/country sending a request for Family Packs of seed. A Family Pack is our selection of 10 varieties of vegetables/herbs best suited for the climate, growing conditions, and culture of the people group to be served by the ministry requesting our help. We also include in each family pack a Gospel Message of Hope, and in each box are instructions and suggestions for seed planting and seed saving, as well as seed storage requirements.

Amaranth

Midnight - long considered a very nutritious and drought resistant plant and is ideal for warm, dry areas. It also does well in moist, tropical zones. Amaranth leaves are very high in vitamin C, iron, carotene, calcium, folic acid, and proteins.

Beets

Detroit Dark Red - considered the standard for gardens, farms and canners, these beets have strong tops over nearly round, smooth, blood-red produce with good flavor and nutrition.

Broccoli

Waltham 29 – old standard open-pollinated broccoli is a compact, dark green plant with well-rounded, medium-sized heads.

Cabbage

Copenhagen Market – open-pollinated, older variety performs well in many regions of the world. This compact plant, with a short core inside a small to medium-sized head, keeps well when harvested if stored cool or cold. It has a nice flavor for slaw, salads, cooked, or kraut.

Pac Choi – quick-maturing Chinese cabbage is nutritious and easy to grow. We often include this item in our shipments to nations in need of good and easy-to-grow food. The ability to harvest pac choi leaves until the plant flowers makes it a popular choice. It is very productive and well-adapted to many growing conditions.

Carrot

Chantenay Red Core – nicely flavored, orange variety matures in 70 days. It is a strong plant and widely adapted to many regions of the world. On occasion, we will substitute Royal Chantenay for a superior top in cooler climates.

Danvers 126- multipurpose variety which matures in 80 days. It features strong growing tops and chisel- shaped produce. This high-yielding and nutritious variety is very adaptable to most regions of the world and is useful for fresh consumption, freezing, and juicing.

Cauliflower

Snowball Y Improved - medium-height variety features inner leaves which cover the high quality, medium-sized white heads. We have selected this open-pollinated strain for shipments to areas which request cauliflower.

Collard

Georgia Southern – very easily grown in most regions of the world with reliable performance. We send collard to many areas of the world for its long history of usefulness and cultural acceptance.

Cucumber

Poinsett 76 – Bred at Cornell University, this variety has proven itself in most tropical and semi-tropical regions of the world. Good disease resistance allows this plant to yield good quantities of quality produce.

Straight Eight – very popular old variety featuring dark-green skin and excellent for slicing. We send this on request to more temperate zones in place of Poinsett.

Eggplant

Florida Hi Bush – a main season, tall plant producing a teardrop-shaped purple eggplant, and highly acceptable for markets in most areas of the Caribbean and Africa. This eggplant grows easily in regions with warm nights and very warm days.

Black Beauty – old standard variety grows tall and yields dark, round-shaped produce. This variety is very popular in many markets and is known for its eating quality.

Long Purple Asian – long, narrow, purple eggplant with purple calyx, yields very acceptable produce for Asian markets.

Herbs

Cilantro/Coriander – very common herb used in many cultures for flavoring food and even medicinal purposes. The fresh cut leaves add a distinctive flavor to food. The seed (coriander) adds a stronger flavor to many recipes for Middle East and East Asia recipes. It has valuable minerals and vitamins for human health.

Parsley, Italian Flatleaf – commonly used by many cultures--even in the tropics. It is a significant source of certain vitamins and minerals. It takes little space in the garden and can be cut multiple times. All of these benefits make parsley a valuable addition to any garden.

Basil, Large Leaf Italian – popular for flavoring food and for medicinal teas. It is easily grown from seed yet sensitive to many fungal diseases and certain insects. Due to its fragile, tender leaves which require gentle handling, this plant is better suited for home garden plots instead of busy marketplaces.

Dill, Bouquet – grows vigorously with fern-like leaves which are useful for flavoring food and making medicinal teas and/or compresses. Dill has many good minerals and vitamins for human wellness, and is especially good when chopped and added fresh to cooked potato.

Kale

Red Russian – easily grown green variety full of vitamins and minerals for good nutrition and can be eaten fresh (young leaves) with salads or cooked with other vegetables.

Lacinato – has a more substantial leaf volume than Red Russian. It is better suited for temperate zones due to its tolerance for colder temperatures. It is very tasty, fresh or cooked, and is full of vitamins and minerals.

Lettuce

Great Lakes Head – useful in many climates, and easily grown. Though lettuce is not something with many calories, it still contains useful vitamins and minerals for health and nutrition balance.

Black Seeded Simpson Leaf – easily grown and also its seed is more easily reproduced. Leaf lettuce generally contains more vitamins than head lettuce because of the surface area exposed to sunlight.

Parris Island Cos Romaine – Romaine types of lettuce are more nutritious and full of flavor for salads. Romaine lettuce is more easily transported for market than leaf types.

Mustard

Southern Giant Curled – a slightly curled leaf type popular for fresh markets and full of flavor. The seed is reddish brown and can be crushed for condiment.

Tendergreen – smooth and tender leaves useful for cooking greens. Suited for milder climates.

Melon

Honeydew Green Flesh – 100-day melon with smooth green skin, creamy white interior and sweet taste. Its exterior skin color will change slightly when interior is ripe for eating.

Hales Best – long considered a standard for large cantaloupe types in the US marketplace. The strain we offer is quite large and full of summertime flavor.

Melon-Honey-Dew-Green-Flesh-91-2-360x360

Okra

Clemson Spineless – long considered the most common US garden okra and still quite productive. Its large leaves on strong stemmed plants will produce edible young pods all summer season.

Gumby – Hope Seeds selection of an old Northrup King Seed company variety called Prelude, is earlier than Clemson, shorter plant, and will outyield most other okras during the season. Test plots in Missouri and Florida have proven superior harvest over the past several years of trials.

Pusa Makmahli – Hope Seeds selection of an old variety originally collected by the USDA in northern India in the 1950’s, an early maturing okra with small lancet leaves making produce easily seen for hand harvest. It is highly productive and proven to be one of our best yielders in several trial locations over the years.

Borneo – a unique okra with very long pods which stay tender a bit longer than many other varieties. It matures later and is a much taller plant than Clemson but still very productive by the end of the season.

Onion

Red Creole – an intermediate day-length type red onion, flattened shape with short storage capabilities. It has a nice flavor and usefulness if grown for slicing onion or bunching type.

Texas Early Grano – short-day type yellow onion popular in many regions of the world, especially tropical/equatorial regions.

White Lisbon Bunching – good bunching salad/cooking onion for quicker harvests than full sized onion varieties. We like to promote this type in poor nations to help with quicker access to nutritional benefits.

Peppers, Sweet

California Wonder – 75-day bell pepper G>R color, 3-4 lobed and thick fleshed, shows tolerance to Tobacco Mosaic, has proven itself in many regions of the world.

Keystone Resistant – 75-day bell pepper G>R color, large 3-4 lobed and thick flesh, shows good resistance to Tobacco Mosaic

Hungarian Sweet Paprika – 65-day sweet pepper ivory to salmon to orange/red color, low growing plant with concentrated set of conical shaped produce pointing upward through the canopy. Produce is thick fleshed and of good quality.

Sweet Banana – named for its banana-like shape, this variety bears sweet, mild banana peppers that mature from yellow, to orange, and then to crimson red. Plants produce fruit prolifically easily yielding up to 25 to 30 pods per plant. Great for containers and tire gardens.

NOTE: All Peppers will benefit from extra feeding of calcium rich fertilizer, especially when bloom and first fruits begin to set.

Peppers, Hot

Jalapeno M – 72-day, 3” long dark green>red produce, up to 6000 Scovilles of heat, and very prevalent in Hispanic and Tex/Mex type recipes.

Cayenne Long Red Thin – 71-78 days to mature featuring pods 5 to 6 inches long by 3/4 to 1 inch in diameter. Fruit is thin walled & somewhat twisting while developing. Plants are 24-30 inches tall with good cover for fruit. Excellent yielder. Flavor is considered very serious “heat."

Hungarian Hot Wax – 70 days to mature. This is a Hungarian heirloom that is excellent for short season areas. It is a medium to very hot fruit that is light yellow in color; sets fruit over a long season. Can be grown in 60F - 95F weather but will benefit from some shading in the tropics.

Radish

Sparkler – 25 days to mature, bright red skin with a white tip, white flesh, crisp and tender, and good source of vitamins and minerals.

Squash, Summer

Black Beauty – early and prolific heirloom variety has been exceedingly popular for its very dark green skin and creamy white flesh. These fast-growing plants are very easy to grow and will continue to produce abundantly if kept picked. Harvest while skins are still tender; pick really small for “baby zucchini.”

Zucchini Dark Green – 49-53 days to mature. It is upright and closed with dark green spiny leaves providing good fruit cover. Fruit length is 19-23 cm, diameter is 5 cm and is cylindrical and smooth. Color is dark green and is a very heavy producer.

Squash, Tropical (Pumpkin)

Trinidad – dark green skin, very thick and sweet orange flesh. The strong vines make this squash a good source of nutrition and vitamins for many regions of the tropical world.

Swiss Chard (Silverbeet)

Lucullus – white ribbed green leaves, standing about 18” at full maturity, yield good volumes of vitamin packed produce in many regions of the world.

Tomato

Roma VF – a determinate plant with good foliage cover and good yields of meaty tomato for saucing and salads. Roma type tomatoes are very popular in many markets around the world.

Floradade – a University of Florida beefsteak type tomato release which has proven to be very reliable under adverse conditions and disease pressures in tropical locations.

Turnip

Purple Top White Globe – standard among turnips for both good tasting roots and strong tops. Tops are tasty if harvested before root gets large.

Watermelon

Crimson Sweet – the standard for all round icebox red watermelons. It has good rind thickness for shipping and handling, great interior color, sweet flavor, and good disease tolerance as the plant grows to produce good yields of 15-25 lb. melons.

Sugar Baby - 68-86 days to mature. This superior ice box type develops very early. It has a thin, hard, tough rind with distinct stripes when immature which become almost black when ripe. These round melons grow to 7-8.5 inches in diameter and weigh 6-12 lbs. They have firm, sweet, red-orange flesh, small dark-brown apple-like seeds, and are drought resistant.

Jubilee Improved - 90-95 days to mature. This Jubilee strain from the University of Florida has much greater fusarium wilt resistance. It is selected to survive in fields where fusarium wilt formerly caused severe loss.

Seeds

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Hope Seeds is a Christian ministry which provides quality garden seeds to a hungry world through missionaries and mission teams to help feed the whole person — body, mind, and soul. Learn More

Stories

Read testimonials from people whose lives have been changed by the work of Hope Seeds. Read Stories

Donate to Hope Seeds

Your gift helps to make a lasting change for the people served by our Hope Seeds missions. Donate Now

Hope Seeds Vegetable Seed Listing used for Family Pack Assortments

Amaranth

Midnight - long considered a very nutritious and drought resistant plant and is ideal for warm, dry areas. It also does well in moist, tropical zones. Amaranth leaves are very high in vitamin C, iron, carotene, calcium, folic acid, and proteins.

Beets

Detroit Dark Red - considered the standard for gardens, farms and canners, these beets have strong tops over nearly round, smooth, blood-red produce with good flavor and nutrition.

Broccoli

Waltham 29 – old standard open-pollinated broccoli is a compact, dark green plant with well-rounded, medium-sized heads.

Cabbage

Copenhagen Market – open-pollinated, older variety performs well in many regions of the world. This compact plant, with a short core inside a small to medium-sized head, keeps well when harvested if stored cool or cold. It has a nice flavor for slaw, salads, cooked, or kraut.

Carrot

Chantenay Red Core – nicely flavored, orange variety matures in 70 days. It is a strong plant and widely adapted to many regions of the world. On occasion, we will substitute Royal Chantenay for a superior top in cooler climates.

Danvers 126- multipurpose variety which matures in 80 days. It features strong growing tops and chisel- shaped produce. This high-yielding and nutritious variety is very adaptable to most regions of the world and is useful for fresh consumption, freezing, and juicing.

Cauliflower

Snowball Y Improved - medium-height variety features inner leaves which cover the high quality, medium-sized white heads. We have selected this open-pollinated strain for shipments to areas which request cauliflower.

Collard

Georgia Southern – very easily grown in most regions of the world with reliable performance. We send collard to many areas of the world for its long history of usefulness and cultural acceptance.

Cucumber

Poinsett 76 – Bred at Cornell University, this variety has proven itself in most tropical and semi-tropical regions of the world. Good disease resistance allows this plant to yield good quantities of quality produce.

Straight Eight – very popular old variety featuring dark-green skin and excellent for slicing. We send this on request to more temperate zones in place of Poinsett.

Eggplant

Florida Hi Bush – a main season, tall plant producing a teardrop-shaped purple eggplant, and highly acceptable for markets in most areas of the Caribbean and Africa. This eggplant grows easily in regions with warm nights and very warm days.

Black Beauty – old standard variety grows tall and yields dark, round-shaped produce. This variety is very popular in many markets and is known for its eating quality.

Long Purple Asian – long, narrow, purple eggplant with purple calyx, yields very acceptable produce for Asian markets.

Herbs

Parsley, Italian Flatleaf – commonly used by many cultures--even in the tropics. It is a significant source of certain vitamins and minerals. It takes little space in the garden and can be cut multiple times. All of these benefits make parsley a valuable addition to any garden.

Dill, Bouquet – grows vigorously with fern-like leaves which are useful for flavoring food and making medicinal teas and/or compresses. Dill has many good minerals and vitamins for human wellness, and is especially good when chopped and added fresh to cooked potato.

Kale

Red Russian – easily grown green variety full of vitamins and minerals for good nutrition and can be eaten fresh (young leaves) with salads or cooked with other vegetables.

Lacinato – has a more substantial leaf volume than Red Russian. It is better suited for temperate zones due to its tolerance for colder temperatures. It is very tasty, fresh or cooked, and is full of vitamins and minerals.

Lettuce

Great Lakes Head – useful in many climates, and easily grown. Though lettuce is not something with many calories, it still contains useful vitamins and minerals for health and nutrition balance.

Black Seeded Simpson Leaf – easily grown and also its seed is more easily reproduced. Leaf lettuce generally contains more vitamins than head lettuce because of the surface area exposed to sunlight.

Parris Island Cos Romaine – Romaine types of lettuce are more nutritious and full of flavor for salads. Romaine lettuce is more easily transported for market than leaf types.

Mustard

Southern Giant Curled – a slightly curled leaf type popular for fresh markets and full of flavor. The seed is reddish brown and can be crushed for condiment.

Tendergreen – smooth and tender leaves useful for cooking greens. Suited for milder climates.

Melon

Honeydew Green Flesh – 100-day melon with smooth green skin, creamy white interior and sweet taste. Its exterior skin color will change slightly when interior is ripe for eating.

Hales Best – long considered a standard for large cantaloupe types in the US marketplace. The strain we offer is quite large and full of summertime flavor.

Okra

Clemson Spineless – long considered the most common US garden okra and still quite productive. Its large leaves on strong stemmed plants will produce edible young pods all summer season.

Gumby – Hope Seeds selection of an old Northrup King Seed company variety called Prelude, is earlier than Clemson, shorter plant, and will outyield most other okras during the season. Test plots in Missouri and Florida have proven superior harvest over the past several years of trials.

Borneo – a unique okra with very long pods which stay tender a bit longer than many other varieties. It matures later and is a much taller plant than Clemson but still very productive by the end of the season.

Onion

Red Creole – an intermediate day-length type red onion, flattened shape with short storage capabilities. It has a nice flavor and usefulness if grown for slicing onion or bunching type.

Texas Early Grano – short-day type yellow onion popular in many regions of the world, especially tropical/equatorial regions.

White Lisbon Bunching – good bunching salad/cooking onion for quicker harvests than full sized onion varieties. We like to promote this type in poor nations to help with quicker access to nutritional benefits.

Peppers, Sweet

California Wonder – 75-day bell pepper G>R color, 3-4 lobed and thick fleshed, shows tolerance to Tobacco Mosaic, has proven itself in many regions of the world.

Keystone Resistant – 75-day bell pepper G>R color, large 3-4 lobed and thick flesh, shows good resistance to Tobacco Mosaic

Hungarian Sweet Paprika – 65-day sweet pepper ivory to salmon to orange/red color, low growing plant with concentrated set of conical shaped produce pointing upward through the canopy. Produce is thick fleshed and of good quality.

Sweet Banana – named for its banana-like shape, this variety bears sweet, mild banana peppers that mature from yellow, to orange, and then to crimson red. Plants produce fruit prolifically easily yielding up to 25 to 30 pods per plant. Great for containers and tire gardens.

NOTE: All Peppers will benefit from extra feeding of calcium rich fertilizer, especially when bloom and first fruits begin to set.

Peppers, Hot

Jalapeno M – 72-day, 3” long dark green>red produce, up to 6000 Scovilles of heat, and very prevalent in Hispanic and Tex/Mex type recipes.

Cayenne Long Red Thin – 71-78 days to mature featuring pods 5 to 6 inches long by 3/4 to 1 inch in diameter. Fruit is thin walled & somewhat twisting while developing. Plants are 24-30 inches tall with good cover for fruit. Excellent yielder. Flavor is considered very serious “heat."

Hungarian Hot Wax – 70 days to mature. This is a Hungarian heirloom that is excellent for short season areas. It is a medium to very hot fruit that is light yellow in color; sets fruit over a long season. Can be grown in 60F - 95F weather but will benefit from some shading in the tropics.

Radish

Sparkler – 25 days to mature, bright red skin with a white tip, white flesh, crisp and tender, and good source of vitamins and minerals.

Squash, Summer

Zucchini Dark Green – 49-53 days to mature. It is upright and closed with dark green spiny leaves providing good fruit cover. Fruit length is 19-23 cm, diameter is 5 cm and is cylindrical and smooth. Color is dark green and is a very heavy producer.

Squash, Tropical (Pumpkin)

Trinidad – dark green skin, very thick and sweet orange flesh. The strong vines make this squash a good source of nutrition and vitamins for many regions of the tropical world.

Swiss Chard (Silverbeet)

Lucullus – white ribbed green leaves, standing about 18” at full maturity, yield good volumes of vitamin packed produce in many regions of the world.

Tomato

Roma VF – a determinate plant with good foliage cover and good yields of meaty tomato for saucing and salads. Roma type tomatoes are very popular in many markets around the world.

Floradade – a University of Florida beefsteak type tomato release which has proven to be very reliable under adverse conditions and disease pressures in tropical locations.

Turnip

Purple Top White Globe – standard among turnips for both good tasting roots and strong tops. Tops are tasty if harvested before root gets large.

Watermelon

Crimson Sweet – the standard for all round icebox red watermelons. It has good rind thickness for shipping and handling, great interior color, sweet flavor, and good disease tolerance as the plant grows to produce good yields of 15-25 lb. melons.

Jubilee Improved - 90-95 days to mature. This Jubilee strain from the University of Florida has much greater fusarium wilt resistance. It is selected to survive in fields where fusarium wilt formerly caused severe loss.

Seeds

Hope Seeds is a Christian ministry which provides quality garden seeds to a hungry world through missionaries and mission teams to help feed the whole person — body, mind, and soul. Learn More

Stories

Read testimonials from people whose lives have been changed by the work of Hope Seeds. Read Stories

Donate to Hope Seeds

Your gift helps to make a lasting change for the people served by our Hope Seeds missions. Donate Now

Hope Seeds Vegetable Seed Listing
used for Family Pack Assortments