From Butter and Sugar sweet corn to Thumbelina zinnia, thousands of seed packets owe their existence to Gwen Stefani and Boris Karloff. Gardeners, it’s winter and still a bit early to plant seeds.

Earl Wenger feels a kinship with the antique seed packing machine he spends his days with in the two-man seed packing room at Rohrer Seeds in Lancaster. “The man who invented it was a genius,” says ...

HARTFORD — Ted Willard has a soft spot for the Ballard Seed Packer, the seed-packaging machine designed more than 100 years before he started his business. But Willard is not stuck in the past. After ...