In 1975, Chicago lawyer John Swenson ordered an unusual garlic from a catalog out of curiosity; decades later, that curiosity had grown into 150 preserved varieties

Most of us have probably thrown something weird into the shopping cart just because it looked interesting. In 1975, a lawyer named John Swenson did the same with garlic. According to a Seed Savers Exchange profile, he was flipping through a seed catalog and ordered rocambole garlic bulbs just out of curiosity and never looked back. Decades later, he donated 150 varieties to the group's seed bank. His story suggests how one small curiosity can lead to a lasting contribution.

A lawyer with a penchant for puzzles

The profile adds that Swenson graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1950 with majors in philosophy and sociology, and then attended Northwestern University School of Law. His law career shaped nearly every part of his life. In the late 1980s, he brought his love of facts, and of alliums like garlic, onions, and leeks, to a multi-year puzzle: where did the name Chicago come from? The name actually comes from a word in the Miami and Illinois languages for "striped skunk," which they also used for the wild leek.


Swenson began to doubt that the story of the common prairie onion was true. So he delved into regional history, picking up the ability to read 11 Native American languages along the way. Finally, he came upon the diary of Henri Joutel, a French soldier who had traveled that way in 1687. Locals told Joutel that the area was named after a wild garlic that grew along the river banks. Swenson published his findings in the Illinois Historical Journal in 1991.

From a curious order to a lifelong habit

That first order of rocambole bulbs was just the beginning. Later in 1975, Swenson read about Seed Savers Exchange, then True Seed Exchange, in Organic Gardening magazine. In 1984, he was an official listed member, and in 1985, a lifetime member. Over 33 years, he listed 133 varieties in the group's Yearbook and donated 150 varieties to its seed bank collection. He also served several years as an advisor to the Seed Savers Exchange. Sharing was central to how he worked.

The 1989 trip that changed American garlic

Swenson joined a USDA team of biologists on a collecting trip through Russia and Central Asia in 1989. The team looked for garlic, onions, shallots, and carrots on remote hillsides and in busy marketplaces. They came to the USSR fully accredited, but foreign agencies often looked at them with suspicion. At 6'2", Swenson remembered being assigned the smallest seat on a flight from Moscow to Ashgabat. The only flights open to Americans were at night, and he laughed that officials didn't want American spies to see the land by day. The team returned with 120 varieties of garlic.

USDA materials are normally kept in the agency's own collection, but Swenson obtained samples from as many of the USSR accessions as he could and grew them all in his backyard. He gave his entire collection to Seed Savers Exchange, which became the basis of the group's garlic collection. He also listed many varieties in the Exchange, and later sold much of his collection to Filaree Farms in Washington. His work helped ignite a garlic revolution, and the profile notes that in 1987 the U.S. seed trade offered 18 garlic varieties, which grew to 274 by 2004.

Why Central Asia matters, and what he left behind

There's a reason garlic hunters go to that part of the world. A 2023 review in Plant Systematics and Evolution says garlic is believed to have originated in Central Asia. It also notes that garlic is generally considered sterile and is largely propagated asexually, although fertile wild garlic has been found in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Most garlic is grown from cloves, not seeds, so its varieties depend on people to keep planting them.

In retirement, Swenson continued to help people find varieties and remained active in his garden. He served as a volunteer for the Chicago Botanic Garden, where he chose and donated unusual seeds of educational value, much of that work involving peppers. He decorated his home kitchen with garlic and said he often ate 12 varieties in a day. He liked the Samarkand garlic and the Speckled Roman tomato. John Swenson passed away peacefully in his sleep on July 9, 2024, at the age of 95. His story suggests that curiosity and sharing habits can make a much bigger impression than one garden.