Virginia Teacher's 4 Tomato Seeds Become Iowa's Newest Heirloom Sensation

DECORAH, Iowa — A tomato variety saved from extinction by a Virginia teacher nearly 50 years ago has found a new home in Iowa, where it's now being preserved and sold by one of the nation's leading heirloom seed organizations.

Peg Davis, known locally as the “Tomato Lady” in Staunton, Virginia, has spent five decades cultivating a beefsteak tomato that began with just four seeds handed to her by a ninth-grader in the mid-1970s. That tomato, now called “Peg O' My Heart,” is being introduced by Seed Savers Exchange, a nonprofit based in Decorah, Iowa, as part of its “From the Collection” catalog offering.

The story highlights a growing concern among agricultural researchers: the world's crop diversity is shrinking at an alarming rate, and grassroots seed savers like Davis are playing an increasingly vital role in preserving genetic material that could otherwise be lost forever.

From four seeds to a farmers' market favorite

Davis was teaching agriculture in the 1970s when a student approached her with a small packet containing four tomato seeds. The seeds had belonged to the student's grandparents, who had grown the variety throughout their lives in Pennsylvania. With the grandparents gone and the parents uninterested in gardening, the student didn't want the family heirloom to vanish.

“She gave the seeds to her teacher instead,” Davis recalled. That simple act of trust set Davis on a nearly five-decade journey of seed saving and selective breeding.

Getting all four seeds to germinate was itself a gardening achievement, Davis said. From there, she spent years selecting seeds from the most flavorful and productive fruit, breeding for taste and texture. Today, she sells the tomatoes at the Staunton Farmers' Market, where customers go out of their way to buy her beefsteaks.

Why crop diversity matters more than ever

While the story may seem like a wholesome local interest piece, the stakes are far higher. A 2021 paper published in the journal New Phytologist by Colin Khoury and 14 co-authors documented the ongoing loss of crop diversity worldwide. Once genetic material disappears, it cannot be recovered.

The Food and Agriculture Organization's Third Report on the State of the World's Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, released in February 2025, found that more than 40 percent of plant varieties surveyed are no longer present in at least one site where they were once cultivated or found growing naturally. The report was based on data from 128 countries.

Home gardeners and small seed savers serve as a kind of insurance policy against this loss. If a mainstream variety is wiped out by blight or drought, backyard heirlooms like “Peg O' My Heart” could hold the key to resilience.

Iowa's Seed Savers Exchange embraces the tomato

In fall 2025, Seed Savers Exchange introduced “Peg O' My Heart” as a new offering in its catalog. The organization grew 88 plants in high tunnels at its Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa, both for seed production and for a tomato-tasting event celebrating the nonprofit's 50th anniversary.

Davis attended the event as a workshop presenter and personally walked the rows of tomatoes bearing her name. Farm director Corbin Scholz said, “It was an honor to see Peg walk through the rows of all the 'Peg O' My Heart' tomatoes growing at the farm. She said they tasted just as good in Iowa as they do in Virginia.”

What this means for Iowa's agricultural heritage

For Iowa, a state built on agricultural innovation, the arrival of “Peg O' My Heart” at Seed Savers Exchange represents more than just a new catalog item. It underscores the importance of preserving genetic diversity in an era of industrial monoculture.

Seed Savers Exchange has long been a leader in heirloom seed preservation, maintaining thousands of varieties that might otherwise disappear. The addition of Davis's tomato adds another chapter to that mission.

Davis's story is a reminder that preservation is a long game. It's not enough to grow a plant for a season or two; true stewardship means saving seeds year after year and passing them on to the next generation.

“It took the determination of one teenager who refused to let a tomato disappear, and the tenacity of one teacher to get 'Peg O' My Heart' this far,” Davis said. For a tomato that began as four seeds in an envelope, that's a remarkable legacy.

How to get 'Peg O' My Heart' seeds

Iowa gardeners interested in growing this historic variety can find “Peg O' My Heart” seeds in the Seed Savers Exchange catalog. The organization offers seeds to members and the public through its online store and annual catalog.

For those new to seed saving, experts recommend starting with open-pollinated varieties, which produce seeds that grow true to type. Heirlooms like “Peg O' My Heart” are ideal candidates for home gardeners looking to contribute to the preservation effort.

As Davis's story shows, a single packet of seeds can carry a family's history, a region's agricultural heritage, and a lesson about the importance of looking beyond the next harvest.