The Amazing Women of the Melrose Seed Library
Written and Photographed by Nancy Clover
Finally, the weather is warming up, the sun is lingering a little longer, and gardeners everywhere are starting to dream...of dirt under their fingernails and tiny green shoots pushing up through the soil.
Meet the amazing women behind the Melrose Seed Library, a small but powerful community resource growing inside the Melrose Public Library.
Inside the library, the old wooden card catalog cabinet — yes, the one that once helped people find books before computers — has been lovingly repurposed. Today, those same cubbies are filled with something equally magical: seeds.
Tomatoes. Beans. Zinnias. Marigolds. Herbs and flowers.
And the best part? They’re completely free and open to everyone, whether you have a library card or not.
One of the driving forces behind this effort is Joan Lounsbury, a retired Melrose library administrative assistant and lifelong gardener. Along with the dedicated members of the Melrose Community Garden and roughly 30 volunteers, Joan helps organize and run the seed library—one of the oldest seed libraries in the country.
Each spring, generous partners like High Mowing Organic Seeds in Vermont donate packets of seeds. Those donations are transformed by volunteers into about 4,000 seed packets available to the public every March.
The Seed Library isn’t just about gardening — it’s about learning, sharing, and community resilience. The library website is packed with information about seed saving, because every gardener knows that some seasons bring great success… and others bring valuable lessons.
There’s even a return box for harvested seeds and saved baggies. If your garden thrives, you can give back:
- Harvest and dry your seeds
- Place them in an envelope or bag
- Label with the plant name, year of harvest, and any helpful notes
Envelopes and bags are available right at the Seed Library.
This project also carries an element of social justice. Because the seeds are free, the program helps make gardening — and growing food — accessible to everyone. In the simplest and most hopeful way possible, it’s a reminder that food and beauty can start with something as small as a seed.
Recently, volunteers gathered at the library for a lively seed-bagging event, turning bulk donations into thousands of little packets of possibility for Melrose gardens.
So the next time you visit the library, open a drawer. Take a seed. Plant a little hope. And maybe — just maybe — save a few seeds to return next year.
