LA PLATA — Southern Maryland gardeners do not need to be enrolled at the College of Southern Maryland to take seeds home from its library. The college’s Seed Box gives away vegetable, herb, flower and native plant seeds to students, employees and community members at no cost.
The Seed Box is housed in the Lorraine Diana ’79 and Robert Guite Learning Resource Center, known as the LR Building, the college said in a Nov. 11 announcement. Visitors pick what they want by filling out an order form and taking it to the library’s front desk.
There are limits. Each visitor may pick up seeds once per season, up to five packets. The Seed Box operates year-round but closes for one month between seasons to restock, in February, May, August and November, so anyone planning a visit now should wait until December.
Biology professor Dr. Tracey Stuller started the program in spring 2025 with support from Wild Ones Chesapeake Bay, a nonprofit that promotes native plants. Volunteers have since helped distribute more than 2,000 seed packets, according to the college.
Maddie Kaba, a CSM library assistant who coordinates the Seed Box, said the idea is to make gardening easier to try while introducing people to plants that belong in the local ecosystem. She called it “an easy way for people to try growing their own flowers or food.”
The native plant emphasis ties into a broader campus effort. CSM takes part in the Maryland Bird Conservation Partnership’s Bird Campus network, and Stuller noted in the announcement that native plants supply food and habitat for birds, pollinators and other wildlife.
The supply depends on donations. Student volunteers collect seeds from CSM’s pollinator gardens, clean them and package them, and some packets are made from recycled envelopes. The college asks people who grow plants from Seed Box seeds to bring some seeds back to keep the stock replenished.
Volunteers also take the Seed Box on the road. It is scheduled to be at the Southern Maryland Audubon Society’s Holiday Craft Fair on Sunday, Dec. 6, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Thomas Stone High School in Waldorf. The college said the fair will feature more than 100 crafters, art vendors and conservation groups.
Growing tips, including how to start seeds outdoors over the winter, are posted on the Seed Box website.
In other CSM news this week, the college and UMBC signed a dual admissions transfer agreement.
