Until I met today’s guest, James Young, early in 2025, it hadn’t really registered in my brain that some of the familiar annuals I grow from seed, like cosmos and marigolds and even purple basil, could also double as dye plants.

James is co-owner of Grand Prismatic Seed, a gorgeous and information packed online seed catalog based in Northern Utah, where plants that offer natural dyes are one specialty alongside regional natives and high desert-adapted edibles and flowers.

James is passionate about the fiber arts, and he’s been an expert knitter since high school and is also deep into the art and science of natural dyes, whether sourced from garden plants or foraged ones.

In 2016, James co-founded Grand Prismatic with Guy Banner, a horticulturist at Red Butte Garden and Arboretum at the University of Utah, who works part time at their seed company.

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