"Bountiful Gardens":http://myfolia.com/retailers/142-bountiful-gardens is the absolute best I've ever gotten seeds from. 2009-10-05T07:21:48+11:00 false 12913 2738 2009-10-05T07:21:48+11:00 5362 Thanks PaulP. I did order several catalogs already, but I did not see this one, so I appreciate your post. I got the Gurneys and Burpees catalogs of course, and a Southern something or other heirloom seed co., as well as a couple of others. So this one delivers the seeds in a timely manner, and you have good germination rates with them? 2009-10-05T07:34:57+11:00 false 12914 2738 2009-10-05T07:34:57+11:00 5779 I like Bountiful Gardens, <a href="http://fedcoseeds.com/seeds.htm">Fedco</a> and <a href="http://www.territorialseed.com/">Territorial</a>. The one time I had a germination problem with Bountiful Gardens seeds, they offered me a free replacement pack of a different type of seeds. That was with a new seed they had just added to their catalog (for agretti), and I think it was unusual. Their customer support is very good. I've never had any trouble with Fedco, and they have a fantastic selection. I find their catalog descriptions to be very useful, and they have the absolute best prices. I haven't bought that many seeds from Territorial -- I mostly order supplies from them, since BG and Fedco have only limited supplies. I've been pleased with the few seeds I've bought from Territorial though. 2009-10-05T10:01:11+11:00 false 12919 2738 2009-10-05T10:01:34+11:00 1713 Thanks Katxena. I ordered a catalog from Territorial, and since Fedco does not send a catalog, at least not right now, I downloaded the pdf. I appreciate the suggestions. I hope that we are able to get many interesting things this winter. Both from catalogs and swaps. Hubby just asked me to get as many catalogs as I could in order for us to make the best decisions. :) 2009-10-05T10:20:36+11:00 false 12920 2738 2009-10-05T10:20:36+11:00 5779 I was just thinking about it, and it's not completely accurate to say that Fedco has the best prices. I think maybe that honor goes to <a href="https://www.superseeds.com/">Pinetree Garden Seeds</a>. I've never ordered from them -- I went with Fedco instead because they carry a lot of Frank Morton seeds, which I wanted, and I was trying to limit the number of companies I order from. Pinetree is well-reviewed (if you google "Pinetree garden seeds", you'll find a lot of comments about them on other forums and blogs). Maybe another Folian can tell us about them? 2009-10-05T12:29:21+11:00 false 12921 2738 2009-10-05T12:29:21+11:00 1713 I think Burpee is a tried and true, and I have bought their seeds in local stores and generally had good success with them. I would be cautious with Gurney. I haven't bought any seeds from them, but I was not impressed at all with their plants the one time I ordered from them. Although I haven't ordered from them myself, I have heard very good things about Thompson and Morgan, which sells in the UK as well as the US. They also have a subsidiary called Value Seeds through which they sell their overstocks at a discounted price. The selection is not as good at Value Seeds obviously, but they are supposed to be the same quality. I don't know if either has a catalog, but both have on-line catalogs. 2009-10-05T12:36:49+11:00 false 12922 2738 2009-10-05T12:36:49+11:00 4903 Absolutely no problems (germination or otherwise) with anything from Bountiful Gardens. You might also check out seedsavers.org and johnnyseeds.com. I ordered from both of them last year with no complaints. The first year I ordered from Bountiful Gardens, I ordered from three places - all online orders: 1. BG 2. Rareseeds.com (aka Baker Creek) 3. Burpee Bear in mind that I live in central PA. I can drive to Burpee's in *very* short order (they're located in eastern PA). BG is in California and rareseeds is out west somewheres (Missouri, I think). I ordered from Burpee's the first evening. Two days later I ordered from Bountiful Gardens and rareseeds.com. The BG order was in my mailbox 2-3 days later, rareseeds a day or two after that. Burpee took a couple of weeks. I was *very* NOT happy with Burpee, especially since the shipping and handling for them was more than BG and rareseeds combined. I've decided that I'm NOT ordering seeds from places like Burpee or Parks. Mostly because I've been moving towards saving seeds (why buy every year when you can save seeds??), but partly because of some of the scarier stuff I've read about the major seed houses and a place called Seminis. Seminis now controls a VERY large portion of the seed business. And I don't think it's a good thing. Anyhow... Bountiful Gardens is *excellent* for prices and service, but they're kinda limited in variety for seeds. Baker Creek is trying to expand their business (too quickly, if their quality control problems and slow delivery times last year are used as indicators). Baker Creek has a *lot* of, um... odd stuff. Last year was the first time I ordered from Johnny's Seeds and Seedsavers.org. I'll be ordering from them again. 2009-10-05T17:06:51+11:00 false 12923 2738 2009-10-05T17:06:51+11:00 5362 Last year I ordered from Cook's Garden, Johnny's Select Seeds, Territorial, Seeds of Change, and High Mowing Seeds. Cooks Garden: generally nice quality seeds. Their specialty is salads; although they don't have some of the more esoteric greens I've come to love, they have pages and pages of lettuce and lots of your other more standard greens. Beyond that, their selection isn't amazing. They have a little of everything. They're good if you're just starting out, because they have a lot of mixes. It was useful to form opinions about plants I hadn't grown before. Now that I've gotten my feet wet, I find myself tending towards other companies with more selection. But I'll probably use them again to replenish my lettuce stores when they run out. Johnny's Select, Seeds of Change, and Territorial: All of these have great selection and I've been happy with their seeds. I've been trying to winnow things down so I just order from Johnny's. They're closest to me and share my climate, so I assume the seeds they sell are more likely to be suited for my growing needs. But I haven't managed completely. High Mowing: I ordered from them because they had a variety of squash bred by cornell (e.g. specifically for my region) that wasn't available elsewhere. They have a more regional focus than the other places I've mentioned, so unless you're in the northeast or absolutely have to have something only they carry, you're probably better off looking for something closer to home. 2009-10-05T19:48:53+11:00 false 12924 2738 2009-10-05T19:48:53+11:00 1237 Wow! Thanks everyone for the in depth descriptions. Some of them I have visited already, some of them didn't show up in the Google search, so I will look them up!! :) 2009-10-05T22:47:25+11:00 false 12926 2738 2009-10-05T22:47:25+11:00 5779 From my bookmarks folder "Bountiful Gardens":http://www.bountifulgardens.org/index.html "Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds":http://www.rareseeds.com/ "Cooks Garden":http://www.cooksgarden.com/ (actually owned by Burpee) "Seeds of Change":http://www.seedsofchange.com/ "Johnny's Seeds":http://www.johnnyseeds.com "Seed Savers Exchange":http://www.seedsavers.org/ 2009-10-05T23:14:16+11:00 false 12928 2738 2009-10-05T23:14:16+11:00 5362 I wasn't going to comment on this unless it came up -- I and a few other Folians (I'll let them speak for themselves if they want) have had germination problems with Baker Creek. I haven't read of anyone getting 0%, but 50% or less has been mentioned frequently. If there's something they have that you really want, I recommend overseeding. 2009-10-06T00:11:35+11:00 false 12929 2738 2009-10-06T00:11:35+11:00 1713 I have to second Katxena's statement - not only have I had really poor germination, but they were really unreliable with shipping. I ordered in January, and it took a month to receive my seeds, so it's not as though I was ordering last minute. The website distinctly said 3-7 days for my shipment to leave the warehouse, and it in fact took two weeks. The real kicker was that I knew of other people in my area, in Canada, who had ordered AFTER I did and received their seeds before me, and we're not talking about just one or two people, there were at least five, in various areas around my province, who had ordered after me but gotten their seeds before. Not to mention the other people in other provinces where it's the exact same story. Unacceptable in my books. Their responses were extremely slow to my enquiries, albeit very polite. The low germination coupled with the really bad shipping and sub par customer service means I probably won't order from them again, which is quite unfortunate because they have a very nice selection. The company I ordered from that was new to me this year was "The Cottage Gardener":http://www.cottagegardener.com/. They're located in Ontario, very lovely people, great selection, great prices, and great customer service. I can't say enough about these guys, and they've definitely made a long term customer out of me. This year I plan on doing the bulk of my seed ordering through them. 2009-10-06T01:37:09+11:00 false 12930 2738 2009-10-06T01:38:24+11:00 12 Now see, I thought that we had had a discussion about Baker's Creek, but I couldn't remember where the discussion took place!! Thanks Katxena and kelly. :) 2009-10-06T03:21:54+11:00 false 12931 2738 2009-10-06T03:21:54+11:00 5779 If you look for something a little bit different: Gardens North (Canada) - wonderful selection, excellent service http://gardensnorth.com Jelitto (Germany) remains my standard supplier for interesting cultivars of more common species https://www.jelitto.com Chiltern Seeds (Great Britain) has the most entertaining catalogue (for reading) and an excellent selection http://www.chilternseeds.co.uk 2009-10-06T05:16:48+11:00 false 12932 2738 2009-10-06T05:20:19+11:00 10558 Thank you HTHB. I look forward to adding these catalogs to my ordering list after I am done canning today. 2009-10-06T05:22:11+11:00 false 12933 2738 2009-10-06T05:22:11+11:00 5779 @Kat - actually, there is a detail I *didn't* include in my previous post (i.e. "Baker Creek is trying to expand their business (too quickly, if their quality control problems and slow delivery times last year are used as indicators..."). I put my order in waaaaaay early in the winter and didn't have any delivery problems with Baker Creek. Jamie (my next door neighbor), however, also ran into the "forever delayed" delivery and actually ended up getting some things from elsewhere. The *killer* part of his order from them was that some of the seeds were NOT what the package said they were (peas, specifically) - which led me to mention quality control problems. He told me he complained about it on their message boards and *wasn't* the only one with "wrong seed" issues. They (Baker Creek) initially tried the "everything is ducky" routine. When that didn't work on their own message boards they finally admitted to problems and said they were addressing the issues so they won't happen again. We'll see, but I don't plan on ordering much (if anything) from them this winter. I didn't notice any germination problems with what I got from them... the onion seeds and mama leone tomato seeds, anyhow. The "gift seed" they sent (eggplant) WAS less than 50% germination, tho. Three plants out of a whole packet of seeds. I wasn't horribly upset because, um... I didn't ask for them. LOL With all their other issues last year, it's not surprising that low germination was also a problem. 2009-10-06T07:42:20+11:00 false 12934 2738 2009-10-06T07:42:20+11:00 5362 "Horizon Herbs":http://www.horizonherbs.com and "J.L. Hudson":http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/. both are great outfits. cmagnus: regarding Johnny's being in your neighborhood: unless it's a Johnny's variety, I don't know that their seeds are any more likely to have been grown near you than anybody else's. for example, we ordered onion sets from Johnny's and they shipped from Texas. then we called the place they shipped from and got a better price and better sets. 2009-10-06T15:41:52+11:00 false 12938 2738 2009-10-06T15:41:52+11:00 3098 Oh hell-_O_ lovey! @Puu, the J.L. Hudson catalog is amazing. I just added two salad greens to my wishlist that were previously unknown to me. Thank you for the link. And I will probably spend all winter reading the Horizon Herbs webpage. What fantastic resources. 2009-10-06T17:24:28+11:00 false 12940 2738 2009-10-06T17:24:28+11:00 1713 Cool! I'll have to check them out! Thanks for the suggestions puu, and thanks for the enthusiasm!! :) 2009-10-06T22:40:58+11:00 false 12943 2738 2009-10-06T22:40:58+11:00 5779 @puu: I don't think they'll necessarily be grown near me. But I think they are unlikely to push something that will do horribly here. Of all the catalogs I've looked at, they're the one that has the pepper heirloom from across the river. Given the dampness of our summers, if it does well here it would do horribly in the southwest and I wouldn't expect a southwestern seed merchant to stock it. Take, for example, Kelly's heirloom tomato experiment. One of her varieties is the same as mine but she only got 3 tomatoes off of it. Most of her other tomatoes did much better. For me, it did great; better than the other variety I was growing, which was not an heirloom known to do well in the northeast. I suspect when Johnny's chooses a few pages of tomatoes from hundreds of varieties, the overwhelming majority will be those that do best in this climate. They might do well in other climates by coincidence and therefore have seed suppliers elsewhere. That's not my central concern. 2009-10-06T23:42:41+11:00 false 12946 2738 2009-10-07T04:13:38+11:00 1237 well, that sure makes sense, cmagnus. I suppose you're probably right. 2009-10-06T23:50:51+11:00 false 12948 2738 2009-10-06T23:50:51+11:00 3098 I will pipe up for Pinetree Garden Seeds. I ordered from them last year and was very pleased. I ended up placing three orders all told, each with different concerns and issues, and they handled them all beautifully. I had very good germination rates from them, even on many of the difficult to germinate herbs I ordered. The first order I placed with them was huge (five local gardeners ordering together), and they called me to confirm and give me a quote on time and shipping since it was so large. Good company. I also ordered from J.L. Hudson, very happy with them also. Good germination rates, reasonable shipping times and costs. The other I will add that I really liked is "Ohio Heirloom Seeds":http://myfolia.com/retailers/2043-ohio-heirloom-seeds . They don't have a huge selection, but what they do have they do very well. Great customer service, very reasonable shipping and prices, but the best part is absolutely amazing germination rates. 2009-10-07T01:05:44+11:00 false 12951 2738 2009-10-07T01:05:44+11:00 3716 Crystin - now I'm curious, which tomato was that? There was two or three for me that I got only a very few tomatoes from. 2009-10-07T01:18:19+11:00 false 12953 2738 2009-10-07T01:18:19+11:00 12 @Kelly: oxheart. 2009-10-07T04:14:36+11:00 false 12959 2738 2009-10-07T04:14:36+11:00 1237 Ah yes, the Oxheart. It could have been one of several varieties that I grew. Pink oxheart isn't very specific, but unfortunately that's all it said on the label. 2009-10-07T07:01:32+11:00 false 12964 2738 2009-10-07T07:01:32+11:00 12 I have a catalog question. I ordered some Green Manure seeds from Johnny's Seeds, and they sent a 2009 catalog. Is the 2009 catalog for purchasing seeds to plant in Spring 2010 or is this the catalog that would have been used to plant in Spring 2009? Just wondering if I should be waiting for a new one before it's time to order or if this is it. 2009-10-27T03:42:50+11:00 false 13320 2738 2009-10-27T03:42:50+11:00 5832 That is a good question! I will be monitoring this for the answer!! :) 2009-10-27T03:57:34+11:00 false 13321 2738 2009-10-27T03:57:34+11:00 5779 That 2009 catalog is for this year, rather than 2010. If you want to make sure you're getting the freshest seed, I'd contact the company and ask when they plan to switch over to the new stock. I've only had good experiences with my orders from: Territorial Seed, Johnny's, and Pinetree. The seeds come well-packaged and are of great quality. Territorial and Johnny's catalogs are valuable general-reference guides on growing-- they go on the shelf with my published vegetable gardening books. As mentioned, Pinetree's prices are hard to beat, and they have great selection. I ordered from Richter's herb seeds several years ago and was very happy. Of course, they mostly sell herbs, but there's some unusual stuff there, ranging from apothecary rose to bo-trees to weedy stuff like dandelion and purslane. It's best to be prepared beforehand if you stray off the beaten path, though, because they offer some potentially invasive items (like the dandelions) and seeds that require special work to germinate. Thompson & Morgan has beautiful catalogs full of exotic items, and well-packed seed, but I've had problems with lost orders and such. I've also heard complaints about seed not being up-to-par, but I've never had that problem (except that I sometimes order things that are beyond my ability level to germinate). Value Seeds seems to be where Thompson & Morgan offload their spare stock. You can find a lot of vegetable and flower seeds that aren't too difficult to grow, and some interesting varieties (although offerings are limited). Most of their packets are 99 cents or less, and I haven't had a problem with anything I've ordered. 2009-10-27T05:06:23+11:00 false 13327 2738 2009-10-27T05:06:23+11:00 25 Thanks for the input Satrina0. :) 2009-10-27T05:13:15+11:00 false 13328 2738 2009-10-27T05:13:15+11:00 5779 thanks for all the tips on who to get catalogs from :) 2009-10-30T14:53:09+11:00 false 13442 2738 2009-10-30T14:53:09+11:00 12005 I can't wait to get my orders in! I am just waiting to see what all I can get swapping first. :) 2009-10-30T22:41:39+11:00 false 13449 2738 2009-10-30T22:41:39+11:00 5779 @TR -- you might want to wait until January to make sure stock has turned over. Since I keep my seeds for a very long time, I want to make sure I get brand new seeds when I buy them. Or like Satrin0 said, you can contact them to ask when they turn over. 2009-10-30T22:46:21+11:00 false 13450 2738 2009-10-30T22:46:21+11:00 1713 That's good advice. Thanks! 2009-10-30T23:31:14+11:00 false 13457 2738 2009-10-30T23:31:14+11:00 5779 I've noticed most everybody in this conversation is in zone 5, and I'm not sure where VA falls in the zoning categories, but I thought I should pipe up for "Southern Exposure Seed Exchange":http://www.southernexposure.com/index.html. I'm hoping they have some varieties more suited to the southern climate than Seed Savers in Iowa does. I ordered some garlic from SESE for this year and am about to plant. It came with good directions (although no zoned planting time guidelines). I'll let you know how it turns out. 2009-11-03T16:57:01+11:00 false 13506 2738 2009-11-03T16:57:01+11:00 996 Sharonopolis, I ordered from SESE last year. The seeds I got from them were really nice -- good quality, good germination. I like them a lot. 2009-11-04T00:55:17+11:00 false 13510 2738 2009-11-04T00:55:17+11:00 1713 Thanks sharon. I will add them to my list!! :) 2009-11-04T04:55:19+11:00 false 13512 2738 2009-11-04T04:55:19+11:00 5779 i'll add another vote for Pinetree Seeds. the prices just can't be beat, which is especally useful when you want to try new things and don't need a ton of seeds. i also like www.heirloomseeds.com. i've only used their website, but they have a good selection, good prices, and i had great success with their seeds. as for Baker Creek, i've ordered from them in the past with good results. i didn't last year because i found better prices elsewhere. bu even if you don't order from them, get the catalog--its just gorgeous, with lots of great photos of all sorts of things. i'm trying to cut down on catalogs, since i can access everything on the internet, but i will always order baker creek... there's just something about those catalogs... its like holding spring in your hands, i don't know.... 2009-11-08T16:20:15+11:00 false 13585 2738 2009-11-08T16:20:15+11:00 5457 I had a bad year with Pinetree. The only ones that germinated were the broccoli, although their Pinetree Broccoli mix was excellent I have to say. But I couldn't even get their Blue Lake Beans to germinate, which is insane. Never heard of beans that were hard to grow. I had promised myself to skip the catalogs and just go Burpee this year, but then I started thinking about all the cool things you can't find at the Big Boxes, so maybe I'll relent. 2009-11-09T01:40:16+11:00 false 13591 2738 2009-11-09T01:40:16+11:00 3568 I'm looking for Vaccinium Corymbosum seeds. They used to have it in Gardens north, but it was out sold in summer. If someone finds (wild)seeds please do not hesitate drop a note by mail. 2009-11-10T08:18:10+11:00 false 13611 2738 2009-11-10T08:18:10+11:00 11175 I sent you a message with some information. I hope this helps!! 2009-11-10T08:42:02+11:00 false 13612 2738 2009-11-10T08:42:02+11:00 5779 maanma: now is a good time to take cuttings of mature wood to root next spring. you'll be able to get superior named varieties that way without paying for a plant. I don't know of any outlets that would sell cuttings to you, but I bet you could find a fellow gardener to trade with. 2009-11-10T08:59:51+11:00 false 13613 2738 2009-11-10T08:59:51+11:00 3098 I would like to say that I love Pinetree, but like Nax I've had a bad experience with them. Their catalog is designed very nicely which I absolutely love. What I didn't love is that I placed an order with them back in February and it took three months to get my order delivered - too late to plant some items like jicama. I did get an apologetic note from them which explained they were overwhelmed by large orders this year due to the recession. A phone call in March would've been lovely as I could've cancelled that order and purchased elsewhere. Heh, I didn't even get a free packet of seeds. Seeds of Change is growing tremendously. I love their product but I've had slow deliveries from them twice now. Territorial is fabulous even if shipping is costly; hearts for Johnny's and Select Seeds as well. 2009-11-10T09:44:39+11:00 false 13614 2738 2009-11-10T09:44:39+11:00 5903 Thanx TropicalRose & puu. I've some V. corymbosum hybrid cultivars like Northblue, Bluecrop, Patriot etc. But not the origal wild plant which can grow >2m (>6 1/2ft tall) what hybrids don't do. 2009-11-12T08:05:17+11:00 false 13645 2738 2009-11-12T08:05:17+11:00 11175 Hmm. I don't know where you would get a wild variety except to go hunting in a wooded area. :) I am not up on wild variety plants. I just discovered this year that I have a wild variety of aster growing in my backyard!! :) We found wild raspberries growing close to Rapid Creek in the hills above Rapid City while living there. That was interesting, and also some wild blackberries grew on my grandfather's property when I was growing up. :) Now I am babbling. Sorry. 2009-11-12T08:09:33+11:00 false 13646 2738 2009-11-12T08:09:33+11:00 5779