I recently heard about a small seed company in my neck of the woods and I just had to learn more about it. I was especially intrigued when I discovered this Boulder-based company has a split personality.

The company is called BBB Seed and it’s a family-owned business that sells heirloom vegetables and wildflower seed. The “BBB Seed” name acts as an umbrella that covers the operation when it’s describing the vegetable line—Bounty Beyond Belief—and when it’s describing the wildflower line—Beauty Beyond Belief.

I talked with Mike Wade, BBB Seed’s self-described Head Honcho, and asked him about the two different product lines.

“There’s always a little crossover between the two,” he said. “We work with people on a personalized level to accommodate specific interests, needs, and information.”

The company is more than 25 years old and during that time sold only to wholesale customers. When Mike purchased the company three years ago, he expanded the customer base to include retail and individual gardeners, too. Now BBB Seed distributes as many catalogs to individuals as it does to its wholesale customers. 

The BBB Seed vegetable line features heirloom varieties that are open-pollinated, non-GMO seed designed to grow well in high altitudes.

BBB Seed also carries an organic line of heirloom vegetable seed. In addition to standard offerings, like Kentucky Wonder pole beans, there are some unusual organic veggie varieties like Golden Detroit Beets, Long Purple Eggplant, Batavian Endive, Lacinto Kale, and Red Deer Tongue lettuce.

Mike said he added 24 new organic varieties to the company’s 2011 catalog. Some of the new offerings include Aunt Ruby’s German Green, Red Pear, and Yellow and Pink Brandywine tomatoes; Orange Sun and Sweet Chocolate peppers; and colorful carrots like Atomic Red and Cosmic Purple.

BBB Seed’s 28-page catalog is easy to download from its website (bbbseed.com), and paper copies are also available on request.

BBB Seed is continuing to grow and will soon add a new product line called Botanicals Beyond Belief that will include wildflower soaps, lip balm, and gardener’s hand salve.

More catalog reviews…