About Us
Our heritage Seed Bank is located within the grounds of 'Annsleigh Gardens' an historic, five acres Olde World English garden situated in the north western part of Tasmania and only 10 minutes from Burnie.
The gardens are a place of beauty and serenity consisting of numerous 'rooms' and themes which are perfect for wandering around and getting 'lost'. As an added bonus, it also has (possibly) has one of the tallest pruned hedges in Tasmania (maybe Australia)!
Started over 60 years ago, the gardens were originally a home to a flock of sheep - simply a bare paddock! Over time it was developed by a lovely couple 'Ann and Leigh' who established a vibrant cafe and open-garden. Eventually the gardens sold becoming an elegant wedding venue. In early 2025 and we then purchased the property with a vision of creating a place for people to visit and learn about our vegetable and fruit heritage, to learn about seed saving and as a base to distribute our rare seeds.
Developing the gardens is still very much a work in progress....... Over the years it had become quite overgrown and run down - however there's still that something special - a sense of peacefulness that's rare these days. So yes, there's still so much to do, and we're not open yet, however we'll be opening our doors soon (we're aiming for Spring 2025).
We'd love for you to join us in our journey.
About Our Seed....
NON-HYBRID
Hybrid seed is the result of cross-pollinating two or more different types of a variety to produce another. If seed is saved and planted from this hybrid plant, either (1) the seed will not germinate or (2) the germinated seed will not grow true-to-type. We choose to AVOID hybrid varieties and as a result they may not be found in our range.
OPEN-POLLINATED
All of our seed comes from open-pollinated varieties. This means that they will remain true-to-type, producing the same type of plant year after year, provided cross pollination does not occur. If you wish to save your own seed, be sure to follow seed saving guidelines, ensuring correct distancing requirements etc. Note: We do hand pollinate many of our pumpkin, squash, zucchini, cucumber & melons which enables us to grow more than one variety each year and still ensure that the variety remains true-to-type & is non-hybridised.
We do not buy, sell, grow or support the growth of GM seed.
We choose NOT to coat our seed with artificial fungicides etc choosing rather to present it to you in its most natural form possible. Also, where possible, we choose seed which is organic or organically grown.
Whether our seed is grown by ourselves, or it is produced by one of our carefully selected experienced seed growers, all of our seed batches are personally germination tested prior to release. While the majority of our seed shows 95-100% germination, all will have at least 85%. It is important to keep in mind that regardless of our test results, it is your climate, soil & planting practice that will have the final say for actual in-ground germination.