Kings Seeds is a New Zealand owned, family business.
Owned by Charlotte and Rob Connoley, the essence of the business hasn’t changed since its inception by Ross King in 1978, and through the ensuing years of ownership by Gerard and Barbara Martin.
For generations, Kings Seeds has been woven into the fabric of growing and home gardening within New Zealand. As the business heads towards an exciting 50-year milestone in 2028, Charlotte & Rob feel honoured to be the third generation of custodians.
One of the values that has remained important throughout all three
generations of Kings Seeds ownership is that the business has stayed proudly
New Zealand-owned and operated. We believe there is real value in keeping local knowledge, decision-making, and investment here in New Zealand. As the world continues to change, supporting New Zealand businesses that contribute to our food-growing culture, gardening communities, and environmental resilience feels more important than ever.
For Charlotte and Rob, it’s about staying connected to the needs of New
Zealand growers and gardeners while continuing to invest back into the people,
communities, and future of growing here at home.
Where possible the business works with other family-owned seed breeders and producers globally to retain a vast assortment of modern and heirloom varieties to satisfy every gardener and grower. New Zealand sourced seed is preferential where it can be obtained with around 10% of the range coming from seed producers in New Zealand or our own seed productions.
As General Manager of the business, Charlotte has extensive experience over a 25 year+ career within the seed industry as well as having held governance roles in New Zealand and Australia including being the first women Director and Chair of Seed & Grain NZ in over 100 years of the organisation's history.
Charlotte has a passion to continue to build on the key vision set by the business in 1978 – making growing from seed accessible to everyone.
Ross King, founder of the company, was inspired in his lifelong love of herbs by Carmel Hare and Gillian Painter, both noted herbalists. Ross began Kings Seeds by selling herb plants from his backyard before quickly realising that there was demand for herb seed nationwide. The first Kings Seeds catalogue was produced in 1979 with 24 pages listing 65 herbs and flowers, 8 vegetables and 170 herb plants.
In the early 1980’s Ross and his wife, Glenys, started a retail shop on Great North Road. The building with its unique Tudor style became a landmark and remains there today. The shop sold dried flowers, pot pourri, essential oils, gifts, books, seeds and plants with the mail order operation working in tandem. By the early 1990’s a garden was added along with a café serving Devonshire teas whilst the reputation of Kings Seeds continued to grow.
It was about this time that Ross and Gerard Martin were to meet. Gerard called into the Avondale shop and became yet another recipient of Ross’s vast knowledge and more importantly, a friend. Ross & Glenys worked hard to build Kings Seeds into a household name with an extensive range from the standard to the weird and wonderful and after 21 years it was time for a change.
In February 1999, Gerard and Barbara Martin bought the Kings Seeds mail order operation. Gerard a flower grower and Barbara a teacher. The business was relocated to Katikati where the appeal of the Bay of Plenty climate had drawn Gerard and Barbara.
Under Gerard and Barbara’s guidance the business has grown to offer a huge assortment of flower, herb, vegetable, sprouting, microgreen and lifestyle seed to home gardeners and commercial growers throughout New Zealand. We aim to introduce new varieties to our assortment every year and in all we maintain approximately 1000 varieties. Our seed packets are all hand packed and we focus on outstanding customer service and knowledgeable gardening advice for our many customers.
Our organic journey began back in 2000, when Kings Seeds was the first company to introduce organically grown and internationally certified seed to the New Zealand home garden market.
At first our organic range was small, limited to just 14 varieties which continued to grow each year with the requirement for a dedicated organic section in our catalogue.
In 2013 we recognised the importance of becoming a New Zealand certified supplier of organic seed and became BioGro NZ accredited. BioGro accreditation gives our customers complete assurance that our products and systems are certified to the highest organic standard.
Now the largest supplier of organically certified seed in New Zealand with over 100 varieties, we continue to look at how we can continue to grow the range.
We’d love to know what other organic varieties you would like us to source for our range so send us a message info@kingsseeds.co.nz
Organic Spring Onion Tokyo Long White
Uniform and upright growth for easy harvest. The bright white stalks have very little b
Mustard Gai Choy
Possibly the most common mustard greens used in Chinese cuisine, served as a side dish
Organic Cucumber Marketmore
Slicing cucumber with crisp, cylindrical fruit averaging 15cm. Suitable for growing up
Mizuna Red Kingdom F1
Finely serrated mustard with dark purple leaves and dark veins at babyleaf size (21 day
Tomato True Red F1
Cocktail tomato. Prolific tomato with medium sized 50g fruit. Larger than a cherry toma
Cauliflower Giant of Naples
Impressive cauliflower for gardeners with space. With a curd size of 1.6 to 1.8kg, the
Tomato Indigo Pear Drops
Cherry tomato. A unique variety producing small, yellow, pear-shaped tomatoes with purp
Organic Bean Runner Cobra
High quality dark green stringless runner bean with 20cm long round pods that are crisp
Organic Broccoli Raab Spring Rapini
Italian specialty, no central head but many tasty leaves and side shoots with green flo
Tomato Gold Nugget
Cherry tomato. Early to mature, the compact plants are great for small spaces and conta
Tomato Matt's Wild Cherry
Cherry tomato. From the wilds of Mexico, novel blueberry size fruit have full flavour s
Kale Noble
Known for its remarkable resilience and fast growth, a gentle frost not only enhances i
Organic Tomato Sean's Yellow
Highly rated dwarf, yellow tomato with firm juicy flesh and a delicious flavour. Standi
Viola Heartsease Miss Helen Mount
Old-fashioned, English wildflower with petite blooms in blue, purple and yellow. Excell
Summer Savory
Summer Savory is the preferred variety, having a sweeter taste and being less pungent t
Pea Greenfeast
Well known and very popular dwarf green pea for the home gardener. Growing to waist hei
Coriander Picante
A very popular herb for culinary use, all parts of the plant are edible, but the fresh
Chilli Habanero Yellow
Breathtakingly hot chilli with a Scoville rating of 100,000-350,000. Sturdy one-metre t
Gypsophila Virgo
Delicate stems and myriads of white, double blossoms add a delightful airy grace to any
Poppy Shirley Double Mix
Prolific flowering, double-petalled poppies in an array of shades with petals the textu
Tithonia Sunset Mix
A striking mix of red and yellow Mexican sunflowers for attracting butterflies and bees
Marigold Starfire Mix
A cheerful mix of miniature-flowered marigolds in variations of red, orange and gold. G
Helichrysum Swiss Giants
A classic mix of double-flowered, everlasting flowers in the full colour range. Harvest
Sunflower Autumn Beauty (treated seed)
Branching, long-stemmed sunflower with solid colour and bicolour flowers in rich earthy
Viola Edible Flower Mix
A colourful "rainbow" mix of mid-sized, round face types perfect for culinary use. Exce
Amaranthus Love Lies Bleeding
Popular for floral work, the cascading red tassels are a striking addition to large bou
Organic Rocket
Equally good on its own or in a salad, rocket has a distinctive slightly bitter and pep
Organic Beet Erbette
Selection of perpetual spinach, with a thinner stem and light-green leaf. An excellent
Borage
Borage is grown mostly for its bright blue edible flower and is an excellent bee plant
Cucumber Homemade Pickles
Bred for pickling, these medium-green cucumbers have crisp flesh and excellent flavour.
Cress American Upland
A peppery herb very similar to watercress but much easier to grow. The plant yields dar
Cucumber Crystal Apple
Apple-size cucumber with sweet taste and crisp juicy flesh that can be eaten thin skin
Corn Salad Verte de Cambrai
Also known as lambs lettuce or mache, it deserves wider recognition as an ideal substit
Cauliflower Green Macerata
An attractive lime-green cauliflower with very good flavour that can be a nice change f
Organic Lettuce Iceberg
Heirloom lettuce with crisp juicy leaves that wrap over each other to form a glossy, gr
Centaurea Sweet Sultan Mix
Cottage garden favourite with honey-scented, soft thistle-like flowers in white, rose,
Forget-Me-Not Indigo Blue
A classic woodland plant that grows well in cool, shadier areas of the garden and wild
Poppy Flanders Red
Known as the Anzac poppy, single scarlet-red flowers for remembrance. Sow in drifts to
Organic Carrot Berlicum
Very sweet early bunching carrot. Similar to Scarlet Nantes with high sugar and crisp t
Snow in Summer
An easy-to-grow plant producing a spreading mat of narrow, silvery-grey foliage topped
Organic Basil Sweet Genovese
A staple herb for home gardeners and our most popular basil for a reason - reliable, ar
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