Seed Savers Exchange Co-Founder Diane Ott Whealy Receives National Sustainability Honor

Decorah deserves a newsroom of its own. Help us keep it strong. DECORAH — Diane Ott Whealy, co-founder of Seed Savers Exchange and a nationally recognized leader in the heirloom seed movement, has received the 2026 GardenComm Green Medal Sustainability Award. Whealy accepted the award Saturday, Aug. 29, during GardenComm's annual awards and honors ceremony in Portland, Oregon. The Green Medal Sustainability Award recognizes individuals and organizations dedicated to the wise and respectful care of the Earth and the implementation of sustainable and regenerative practices. The award honors Whealy's more than 50 years of leadership in protecting endangered garden varieties, preserving the stories connected to those seeds and building a community committed to safeguarding agricultural biodiversity. "The evening was a powerful reminder that Diane's legacy extends far beyond Seed Savers Exchange," said Mike Bollinger, executive director of Seed Savers Exchange. "You could see it in the people who approached her afterward and shared how she had influenced their lives and work. Diane has always understood that conserving seed diversity depends on relationships and community, and it was moving to see the community she has inspired reflected back to her." "I was honored to be recognized for the work of Seed Savers Exchange by my fellow garden and horticulture communicators, many of whom are working to keep this world green and beautiful," Whealy said. "For more than 50 years, Seed Savers Exchange has quietly carried out its mission alongside so many fellow seed savers. Kent Whealy and I founded the organization in 1975 with no business plan, no budget, no social media presence, no marketing survey and no data telling us how urgent it was to save our garden-seed heritage. We had seeds from just two plants: a morning glory and a tomato. We knew that saving those seeds — and many more — was our life's mission." "Today, Seed Savers Exchange is the largest nongovernmental seed bank in the country. Our tomato collection, which includes the original German Pink tomato seed, is now the second-largest tomato collection in the world. Seed Savers Exchange is located in a corner of Iowa, and sometimes it feels as though we are flying under the radar. I am honored and deeply appreciative to be recognized by a nationwide network of peers and like-minded individuals who are also working hard in this effort." The story of Seed Savers Exchange began with two varieties passed down through Whealy's family. Her grandfather, Baptist John Ott, entrusted Diane and Kent Whealy with seeds of the "German Pink" tomato and "Grandpa Ott's" morning glory. His parents had brought the varieties with them when they immigrated to Iowa from Bavaria in 1884. Recognizing that seeds and the family histories they carry could disappear unless people actively preserved and shared them, Diane and Kent founded Seed Savers Exchange in 1975. Its first exchange list connected 29 gardeners interested in sharing heirloom varieties. Today, Seed Savers Exchange stewards more than 20,000 varieties at its Heritage Farm headquarters near Decorah, Iowa, home to the nation's largest nongovernmental seed bank of its kind. The organization also connects hundreds of seed stewards offering thousands of varieties through The Exchange, its gardener-to-gardener seed-sharing network. Whealy retired from Seed Savers Exchange in 2015 but remains actively involved as a member of the organization's board of directors. Each year, she also plans, plants and tends Diane's Garden at Heritage Farm, where visitors can experience the beauty, history and diversity preserved within heirloom seeds. The "German Pink" tomato and "Grandpa Ott's" morning glory continue to grow at Heritage Farm more than 50 years after they inspired the organization's founding. They remain living symbols of Whealy's belief that seeds are links between generations and that their future depends on people willing to grow and share them. To learn more about Diane Ott Whealy and Seed Savers Exchange, visit seedsavers.org. Your daily dose of local news, delivered. Subscribe to our free newsletter.