Joe Pye weed
Eutrochium maculatum 'Gateway'
Tall mauve domes in late summer, full of butterflies. The seed needs a winter, so sow it outside now through February.
Seeds
Seeds saved from the island.
Collected by hand from the plants growing on the median at West 24th Street and 10th Avenue. Every packet carries a QR code that brings you back here: what's inside, how to start it, and when to sow.
West 24th St & 10th Ave · Saved fall 2026 · Three kinds · Small batch
Native and pollinator seeds for NYC gardens Three plants that earn their place.
Itty Island started the way a lot of guerrilla gardens do: a bare patch of city dirt that neighbors couldn't keep walking past. These seeds are picked for that kind of urban gardening — tree pits, medians, stoops, small backyards — and all three have proven themselves on a sunny, unwatered Manhattan median: two native perennials for Northeast pollinators and one hummingbird annual.
Sowing times on these pages are set for New York City: zone 7b, last frost around mid-April.
Purple coneflower
Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus'
Flat rosy petals, copper cones, and the goldfinches' favorite. Sow in winter or straight into spring soil.
Nicotiana
Nicotiana langsdorffii
Flowering tobacco from Brazil, hung with lime-green bells. A hummingbird magnet. Start it indoors in late winter.
Questions Questions about sowing in NYC.
When should I sow seeds in New York City?
NYC is zone 7b, with last frost around mid-April. Native perennials that need cold, like Joe Pye weed and coneflower, can be sown outside November through February. Warm-weather annuals like nicotiana start indoors in late winter.
What is winter sowing?
Sowing seed outdoors, in pots or the ground, during winter so freezing and thawing break its dormancy naturally. It's the easiest way to start many native perennials.
Get a packet
First batch: gone to good homes.
Our first packets went out at the London Terrace Street Fair in October 2026. If you picked one up and scanned your way here, welcome back. More when the island sets seed again — follow along for the next batch.
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