Favorite Seed Companies

I found Annies Heirloom Seeds in the Garden Watchdog section:

Mailing address:
Annies Heirloom Seeds
12123 Darby Rd
Clarksville, Michigan 48815 (United States)

Dale, do you make your own seed starter soil. If so, please share your receipe with us.

just a comment, park seeds is owned by monsanto, would not buy a thing from them

Sampleseeds.com is my favorite. Love Remy's tomato varieties, price, shipping, great customer service.
ME

anyone have any opinions on Sustainable Seed Co.?

risingcreek ~ OMG!! I won't buy any more from them either! It's better to support the smaller companies anyway.

Besides Botanical Interests, I love Tainong seeds and Kitazawa Seeds (for Asian greens, vegetables and herbs).
Hazzards has pretty good value and BIG packets.
Johnnies and Territorial for crops. Great growing tips!
Baker Creek for heirloom flowers and great photos.
Alplians for rare alpine wildflowers, maybe. They have an amazing seed list, and I placed my first order there recently.

Peg,

I use bagged soil from Lowe's or HD. Which one I buy depends on the type of seed I am planting, the time of year etc.

Lowe's has a brand called Jungle Growth. It is 'chunky' forest product (wood chips, very fine) and it is very well drained. It dries out quickly in our summer heat.

HD has Lambert's and it is peat based. Stays 'wet' and is very fine in texture. Stays moist all the time, hot or cold weather.

JG is for 'big seeds' like Dwarf Poinciana and Lambert's is for fine seed, like Viola (in winter here).
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I belileve there was a large corporation (like Monsanto) that went to court in India to get a patent on Neem Oil (which has been in use for at least a few hundred years and is not produced in a test tube) so they could collect royalties. I find most large american corporations behaving in a manner that has nothing to do with diversity and enterprise. Life has taken bad turn since our court system has decided to grant patents on plants/seeds that occur naturally.

Lets hope things take a turn towards......

Photos of plant with big seeds>

Dale ~ Did that company get a patent on neem oil? I agree with you on the selfishness of the large corporations. There are only a few of them, but they want to control the world. I wonder if there is just one owner that owns them all? (Evil Monster!!)

Dale, I haven't seen these seed starter mixes at Lowes or HD, but will look again next time I am there.
I have just planted Calandula seeds and Firecracker orn. grass. It has been 3 weeks and no sprouts yet. I am about to try something else. I used potting mix at the bottom half and Jiffy starter mix for the top half of the pot.

I use lots of spagnum peat moss in my pots. I add lime for acidity.

I found another receipe for seed starter.... Spagnum,compost,osmacote and peritlite or vermeculite. I added lime for acidity. I am going to try this as an experiment. I have started sifting these and plan on finishing up by the end of the week. I found the seed starter mixes expensive for the amount of soil purchased.

Thanks for your input about seed starter mixes. One diatvantage for me is that Lowes and HD are about 30 miles away.

Since I live just an hour from park seed,which was bought out of bankruptcy by a group of private investors,I can tell you it is not a big company. I would like to know where is the proof that it is owned by Monsanto. Please educate me.

I'm not sure if it's owned by Monsantos or if it just carries seeds that are owned by Monsantos. Many of the hybrid seeds are but many seed co. sell them. Another words, the seeds are owned by Monsantos but the Companies aren't. Not sure which is true in this case.

If in doubt, ask Carolyn She know all about who owns what seed companies. She hangs out on the tomato forums.

Park Seed was bought by Backstreet Capital (a privately held equity firm) as park of bankruptcy proceedings in 2010. To my knowledge, there is no connection between Park and/or Backstreet to Monsanto, other than the possibility that Park may sell some of the 4000+ vegetable / crop varieties offered by Monsanto, the vast majority of which are not GMOs.

Is there a seed company that specializes in shade plants? What is a GMO?

Peg,

The products I mentioned are not 'starter mixes'. The are just bags of potting soil. I don't believe starter mixes have any advantages (in my experience at least).

Seeds have millions of years of practice sprouting. I finding them to be very adaptable.

I just plant them when the temps are right and water to keep them moist.
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This year I ordered Viola, Delphiniums, Mimulus and a few other cool season plants. Since they all germinate at around 70* I built an 8' x 8' box of R13 styrofoam with a clear plastic roof, installed a window air conditioner, planted the seeds in plug trays, watered and covered the whole lot with a sheet of clear plastic. That was 8 days ago. All the trays have seeds sprouting. It seems that cool season seeds almost always need light to germinate.

We don't see 70* (max) until Dec.

I will take photos tomorrow when it is light.

Long ago I used to>

Woodspirit:

Don't know the answer to your first question, but the second - a GMO is a genetically modified organism. Wiki can explain it better than I:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_organism

Dale, seems as though you have a job ahead of you. Watering individual plants in pots seem to take forever, but I do it time and time again.

I do love Tainong seeds! They just got my little order of 2-gram packets out. It was delayed becuase market growers in CA are in a buying frenzy at this time of year (I guess their frost date is months later than mine!

I just like it when the I buy Asian seeds from a guy with a strong Mandarin accent.

- - - - Takuchoy (Tatsoi) frost-hardy once established
- - - - Qing-Long’ Chinese Long Bean (name means "The Pure Dragon")
F1 - - ‘Jade Pagoda’ Sakata Michihili (salad)-
F1 - - 'Monument’ Takii Michihili (FALL 45 cm tall)-
F1 - - ‘Mini Napa’ Chinese Cabbage (extra early):
F1 - - 'N-55' Taiwan Napa Cabbage (extra early for Summer season):
- - - - - -Tainong Nanjing Michihili
- - - - - 'Spring Sprinter' Napa Cabbage Early, very late bolting, spring or fall 60 days. 5-6 pounds.



My next major self-indulgence will be some Wasbai-flavord greens (baby leaf and microgreens) from Kitazawa. But I hope to postpone that for up to a year. Maybe they are just hot mustards with a clever marketing twist. But I love Wasabi paste, and hate strong mustard greens.


Mustard Wasabi - Brassica juncea
http://www.kitazawaseed.com/seed_438-195.html
" While this is not true Wasabi, it is a variety bred especially for microgreen production and has a sharp, peppery flavor. Its large cotyledons or seed leaves make it showy and flavorful."
sow Year round
Maturity: Approx. 5 days for microgreens


'Wasabina' - Brassica juncea
http://www.kitazawaseed.com/seed_354-181.html
"light green serrated leaf mustard brings a delicious, spicy, wasabi-like flavor to a salad mix of baby leaf greens."


Spicy Green, Hybrid - Brassica juncea
The wasabi-like flavored leaves are harvested young for salad mixes or as a garnish in gourmet cuisines. The frilly leaves are mildly spicy

Great places listed above! Gives me some options for my ever expanding wishlists:lol:

I stumbled across a new to me site http://www.localharvest.org

It seems to be set up like an internet farmer's market or ebay. Some sellers seem to have minimum order requirements (you put stuff in your cart and it is separated by vendor, if they have a min. it's flagged until you reach it, you enter your zip and the shipping costs are factored in). I only ordered from one vendor, Garden Medicinals & Culinaries. 5 packs of flower and veg seeds, shipping was $5.50. Yeah, a bit high but for 2 of the flower seed packs, I had only seen at Seed Saver's Exchange and the price per pack was higher as was shipping, so I felt OK with it. Since both the varieties I bought easily make seed I can save, it seemed like a good deal. Ordered and paid on a Thurs. and received on Tues. Pretty fast turn around.

Order was for:
Cosmos Memories of Mona
Marigold Tashkent #1
Sweet Pepper Milord
Sweet Pepper Doe Hill Golden Bell
Tomato Amy's Sugar Gem

Also ordered from ebay--fast shipping and a free pack (they emailed me to let me know I could choose my free option prior to them shipping but I didn't check my email before they had mailed--they sent another pack of what I had ordered which was fine with me). seeds4change_ny was the ebay store/seller.
Ordered 2 packs of Marigold Cempoalxochitl (Aztec marigold) 24-36" tall.

Will have to report how things work out in the spring/summer after they hopefully grow/bloom for me:lol: First time order w/ both places.

I'm not so thrilled with Parks. They are not always very cleear about exactly what variety something is, so you can't research it even if it is a specific registered cultivar or traditional strain which you could compare to other people's flowers ... if you knew its "real" name..

I think they would rather we were depenendent on Parks marketing department to tell us what is "new" or "best" or "unique".

And (as far as I can tell from "marketting names", they don;t have as many rare or unusual strains as places like Baker Creek.

As far as I can tell, most things that Parks sells can be had form almost any seed company, anywhere. Exc pet for those "Parks-Only" marketing specials. Maybe they are unique strains only marketed through Parks. But what If I like something, and want to try related varieties? I have to wiat for Park's marketing department to release another "new and improved" variety with a similar name, and then hope that there is something new ab out it besides the packet art, and something similar to the thing I iked, besides the marketing name.

And they aren't even very up-front about what is OP (comes true to the parent in future generations) or F1 hybrid (you have to buy moe seed from parks every year, or get blurry colors and generic flower shapes and sizes.

Now I give my money only to seed companies that are quick to reveal the Latin name, OP or F1, accepted cultivar name, and so on. I think they are on MY side, empowerin ME, instead of makiing me dependent on THEM. But that's a matter of taste or even opinion.

I like knowin' what I'm growin'.

Rick,
I agree regarding Latin names that Parks never states. Parks have been sold, when I don't know. They were having economic problems and sold the business. Maybe that is why the company is not as good.

I have not purchased anything from Parks for 3 years so don't know how they are now. My last purchase was mixed colors of Penstemon 'Esprit' stated as a hardy perennial . It was beautiful with large flowers and striking colors. I sowed the whole package and was lucky to get all 5 colors. They bloomed first year from seeds from a February sowing. Come the following summer, they did not come up. No sign of them. I Googles the name and found out it is an annual, not a perennial. Very dissapointing.

Below are the 5 colors. You can understand why I was disappointed. If I remember correctly, the full Latin name is P. grandiflorus 'Esprit'

Blomma ~ They might have been perennial in another zone, but yes, full disclosure is very important before giving your hard-earned cash to find only disppointment. (Still, they were beautiful. too bad you did not collect seeds from them...)

Corey is wise to stick to companies that give all the correct information.

evelyn, I wish but it was rated as an annual when I googled it. It is a hybrid. I have other Penstemon that comes up every year. There are also some that are annuals. I did collect seeds (like dust) from all the colors but they will not come true since they are hybrids.

blomma,

>> They were having economic problems and sold the business

That may explain why some people love them and some hate them. Both of those factors will drag your quality down.

Hardy Perennial grown as a "tough luck, Jack, we've got YOUR money" Annual

Funny, DG lists Penstemon grandiflorus 'Esprit Mix' as perennial to Zone 3a (-40F).
Tom Clothier or Jim Swayne lists P. grandiflorus , Group Anularius, as Zone 3.
http://tomclothier.hort.net/page08.html

ZipCodeZoo says "evergeen" and cold-hardy to 3a.
Parks still calls it a perennial to Zone 3. I don't see "f1" or "OP" in their ad.
Burpee calls it perennial.

The group name "Annularius" is interesting. Maybe it is a really, REALLY short-lived "perennial" under some circumstances.

Those ARE nice colors.

Penstemon has been my most frustrating plant to date. They were worse than thigns that just never emerged - these guys waited for months after WS to appear, and then took 10-12 months to get larger than 1" tall. I assume I was doing something wrong!

www.georgiavines.com has a ton of seeds all on their website. If you subscribe to her newsletter, she will send you a $ 5.00 coupon. I just ordered some rare seeds from Lori Rubel. She also sells on eBay.

Dale,
Your garden and flowers are just beautiful.

Rick,
Here are my 5 different Penstemons. All are hardy perennials and drought resistant. All except P. davidsonii and P. viren was sown from seed purchased from Parks.

1] Penstemon coccineus
2] P. barbatus 'Rondo'
3] P. davidsonii 'Microphyllus' (groundcover)
4] lost full name. my favorite
5] P. viren (groundcover)

If you have a problem with Penstemons, try my seed sown ones. The groundcovers I bought as plants from Highcountry Gardens.

Many have the Penstemon grandiflorus 'Esprit Mix' wrong. Every plant (6) was like wood including the roots which shows it as an annual.

Park imports many of their seeds from Europe, especially Germany, rather than produce their own. I have gotten many seed package from them that has a different country stamped on it..

This message was edited Jan 3, 2013 6:39 PM

>>
P. coccineus
P. barbatus
P. davidsonii
P. viren
>>

Hmm, I don't have ANY of those species! I'v e particulalry wanted to grow out
P. eatonii Firecracker
P. smallii 'Violet Dusk'
Penstemon x mexicali "Red Rocks"

But I'm aiming at much easier things for a few years, seeing if I can keep up with simple chores before4 I look for a challenge. Maybe when I'm ready to try Penstemon again, I'll prqac tice o9n the easier ones you suggested. I saved them to my "Penstemon Page".

Does anyone have experience with Willhite Seeds?

I just got their catalog without requesting it, and they have some great prices. Not much variety and nothing unusual (except for weatermelons), but great prices for bulk seeds, like 1 ounc e to one pound.

But I found some mixed reviews like "they get overwhelmed when its busy", and not answering phones or email or resolving complaints. And one guy got several batches of low-germination seed. His comment was something like "I saved a few dollars but lost thousands".

See if they are mentioned on The Garden Watchdog.

Yup, that's where I found the mixed reviews. Several people liked them, several hated them.

Baker Creek (Quick shipping, great service, fun varieties, freebie seed packet that is always something useful)
The Sample Seed Shop (Smaller quantities which is great for smaller gardens, great prices, Remy is super-friendly)
Sophie's Seed & Swine on Etsy (Cute packaging, great germination)
Swallowtail Garden (Can't beat their flower varieties)

Catalogs have started coming and I have to say the photos in Baker Creek's catalog are pure art--I don't think I've ever seen more gorgeous photos--I'm thinking I'm saving this catalog:lol: I ordered in Sept and am thinking I may need to order again:lol:

Burpee's and Park seeds are some of the first places I ever ordered from due to familiarity and before I ever got a computer. Seems like my parents had always received their catalogs (R.L. Shumway's too). After purchasing from many different places after discovering all the other online sources I have to say that those companies don't rate very high on my list. Pricing (seed count vs pkt price is high), S&H pricing and germination are the main negatives for me. T&M is falling into that category for me too. I do buy in May or June when they run their big seed sale.

I'm looking at places for tomatoes and found these places in the tomato forum:

http://t.tatianastomatobase.com (she has other veggies too)
Casey's Heirloom Tomatoes of the Airdrie

dmac085,
I went to that website and found Earliana, which is a tomato I grew for years during the 70's and 80's in the midwest until I no longer could find it. That tomato planted mid-May gave me mideum sized fruit as early as July.

By their own statement, this is the last year they will be offered seeds from 2006. Tomato and other seeds if kept in a cooling enviroment with remain viable. What I do wonder is there are several varieties of Earliana, one originated from N. Dakota, the other from Canada with a slight change in names. So I wonder which is the one I have grown?

When a company grows several types of tomatoes for seed production, how can cross pollination be prevented. Even Tatiana stated that their mission is to preserve open pollinated Heirloom Tomatoes. The seeds from Heirloom Tomato varieties that cross pollinate are no longer heirlooms but a new variety. Also many seeds have been donated from other growers. This is why I am so sceptical regarding heirloom veggies and tomatoes.

An alternative tomato is Early Girl, which I think replaced it. It is not as early as Earliana.

I will say that she does have a good selection of tomatoes and veggies.

dmac085,
I forgot to mention that before the internet, I ordered mailorder from R.L. Shumway. They had my Earliana.

I never really knew what varieties of tomato my parents grew--more than likely whatever the local garden centers or nurseries had in 3 or 4 in pots. I was the seed starter in our family but veggies are my stumbling block. I love tomatoes and even in my small space I want to grow a couple or three in containers:)

I've chose a few from the Tatiana site--some of the last chance varieties too. I have to say that most of my choices are made based on whether or not it can be container grown, height/sprawl and flavor descriptions. I can't grow the big guys with my space limits and water availability (apt, no outside faucet--so all handwatering or rain dependent).

blomma, I did see a mention about the possibility of crosses--notify them if you note differences once grown out so they can pull that batch of seeds--but that would most likely be frustrating if you really wanted a certain variety.

dmac085,
My daughter grew Early Girl in her greenhouse to extend Wyoming growing season. It was planted in a 24" pot (measure across). It was an experiment. Although she thought to do this a bit too late, she still got some nice tomatoes out of it. She will do it eaier this season, the reason she purchased a greenhouse in Fall of 2011. Herbs did great also in there.

I gave up growing veggies when my 4 kids got married. Two of them are gardeners so I don't have to go without.

I have a feeling I may have gotten this info from this thread, but don't want to read all the way back...

I ordered from Reimer's seeds for the first time, and was very impressed. I was looking for Tomato Cupid, and they had it. At a local market a grower said he's never found anything better in a cherry type, finally just grows this one: great flavor, early ripening, heavy bearing, and a long season. Research told me it's also good for sauce, which DH will love.

Blomma there are many ways to prevent cross pollination in O/P veggies ie: isolation, bagging the flowers, to name just a couple. Heirloom O/P veggie aren't hybrids that are hand pollinated to get a specific variety like Celebrity and Early Girl. The home gardener can save seeds from O/P veggies and expect them to grow true the next season, if the seeds are saved correctly. Not so with hybrid seeds.