What are your favorite garden/seed catalogs?

Those seed catalogs are starting to arrive at my house and I was wondering what catalogs that others get that they really enjoy.

Thompson-Morgan catalogue is enjoyable in the evenings, mainly because of the photos and descriptions. Hardiness; propagation methods; and such.

Chiltern Seed with the awsome varieties available. But no hardiness, propagation, or photos.

They are all so well done. Wish I could buy from them all.

JL Hudson

The Fragrant Path!
http://gardenwatchdog.com/c/141/

I love Park Seed,Bluestone Perennials, and Thompson & Morgan - - but have not heard of some of the others. I need to go check out their sites! Thanks!

golddog, Chiltern's is in England - - do you order seeds from them or do they have a USA site also?

Hi nathalyn, yes you can order online. I am pretty sure you can order the catalogue online also. Google>Chiltern Seeds.

The catalogue is a winner!

Edited to say: They do have a catalogue request selection.

This message was edited Dec 17, 2003 3:58 PM

Thanks golddog - - you have to pay for their catalog unless you place an order with them. So, I went ahead and paid the nomimal fee and will be getting one soon.

Pinetree Garden seeds and Select seeds Antique Flowers. Both have great seeds and good prices.

Nat, my favorite catalogs fall into two categories, one for photos, descriptions, planting info., etc. The other category is of reliable, less-expensive companies, perhaps without the detailed information, but from whom I may order.

My favorites in the "looking" category are White Flower Farm. http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/ and Plants Delight http://www.plantdelights.com/

I have no favorites yet for buying as I have little experience with buying anything from a catalog other than seeds.

Darius, I have the same categories - one ggroup for reference - one group for actual purchases. Invariably, I pick up ideas for new plant combinations or bed layouts as I look through the catalogs. I keep my catalogs until the new ones come out.

Also, I have been very pleased with all the seeds that I have ordered from Swallowtail Seeds. They have a website, but I do not believe that they have a paper catalog.

Finally I've found the seeds what I was looking for them for long time in Select seeds!! Thank you Kathleen. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!

lol, I love that catalog. I saw an article about them in a very old Victoria magazine at a doctor's office. There was a phone number, which I copied down and called and got to talk with the founder, who said yes indeed they were still there. That was at least 5 years ago, maybe more, and I have sent an order every year and always been pleased with the service and the seeds. I hope you have as good luck with them. by the way,what were you looking for? Oh, and a belated welcome to DG!

Thank you Kathleen. The plants what I was looking for were Doracocephalum moldavicum and Virginian Stock.(*^_^*) I used to grow them from wild flower mix seed but after that, I couldn't find them in any seed catalogue. Are they ordinary plants in North America? I think Japanese seed catalogue is not so good because they don't have a wider variety of seeds. I like T&M and Chilternseeds,too. As I have interesting in South African plants, sometime I order from B&T world seed. They have so many varieties of seeds.
http://www.b-and-t-world-seeds.com/a1.asp?title=Plants+of+South+Africa&list=37

any DAYLILY catalog that i get!! ;)

I really like the Thompson & Morgan catalogs for their beautiful pics & ideas. However, after visiting their site and seeing their feedback messages, I don't think I'll order from them. (Too many people in there saying they hadn't received their orders but were charged). I'll buy their seeds at the nursery if I see the ones I want.

Blue Stone Perennials, David Austin Roses, & Jackson Perkins catalogs are other favorites of mine.

Catalogs are great in the winter time when you can't garden but instead dream & plan.

Any DAYLILY & IRIS catalogs to dream away my snowy Iowa winter days!

Definitely Chiltern's for the wit and humor, Stokes is good for cultural information, and Parks has a great catalog full of new intros every year. I like to read all of them and compare prices.

Vickey

I ordered from lots of seed catalogs every year, and my mainstay has become Stokes. Since I sell many of the plants I grow, I appreciate the fact that they sell individual colors, as well as mixes. They offer the specs on the plants, the amount of seed per pack, per 1000, per oz, etc... and they offer germination info.

They have a great website if you're only looking, or have a small order. Everytime I have tried to place a large order online, I get a 'Sorry, Heavy Traffic' notice and get bumped off the site, losing all the data for my order. I like their seeds well enough that I've just resigned myself to ordering over the phone... it's an 800 number, and maybe the wasted time on the phone will encourage them to upgrade their site!

This is the first year I've ordered from Swallowtail, and they were good to deal with. I was able to find some different types of seeds I've been looking for.

I ordered seed from an online company called Home Harvest Garden Supply. They have Lily Miller and Ferry Morse seed for a little over a $1 per pack.

Johnny's Selected Seeds is a good one out of Maine. They strive to offer the very best tasting vegetables for the home garden and run their own extensive trial gardens,the most extensive trial garden in North America they say. The focus they advertise is superior product,information, and service. The same attention is given their flower and herbs. The catalog is free and service prompt. They are listed in DG. (that is they are in the garden watchdog)

This message was edited Jan 5, 2004 10:20 AM

This message was edited Jan 5, 2004 10:21 AM

Nat, there used to be a website for a supplier called something like 3 Sisters (Three Sisters?). It is (was?) in our garden watchdog, and recommended in a thread here somewhere. Last year when I looked, they were offline but still had a web site up, but 2 years ago I got some wonderful seeds from them... and cheap. I think like $1 a pack and free shipping.

darius, Is it this group http://gardenwatchdog.com/c/77/ ?
If so, they are no longer in business.

The weather here was so beautiful this weekend that it gave me a bad case of spring fever. I cataloged all my seeds and drew out a sketch of my beds, so that I can plan out how to use the seeds that I have before purchasing many more.

I received the Singing Springs Nursery catalog last week, and it has beautiful coleus at reasonable prices for fully rooted qt. sized plants.

I agree, my favorite catalogues are the LAST ones I would ever order from! Wayside, White Flower Farm, Plant Delights. Beautiful reference material, but prices and shipping unnecessarily high, and customer 'service' from WFF and PD leaves much to be desired.

I also love ANY of the daylily catalogues!

I basically raise whatever I want from seeds these days, or enjoy trading with the members here!

Darius, the 3 Sisters is defunct, per a note I received from them a while back: http://gardenwatchdog.com/c/77/

We've removed their phone number and street address to discourage people from trying to contact them (and inadvertantly bugging whoever now has their addy or phone number.)

I'm planning to take Sue's advice and try Fragrant Path http://gardenwatchdog.com/c/141/ this year. (I just need to remember to send away for the catalog, as they have no web presence, and no intention of getting one - again, per a message from them, lolol.)

I also found Bowman's Hill Wildlfower Preserve http://gardenwatchdog.com/c/453/ to have a wonderful array of offerings. Unfortunately, two of the seeds I really REALLY wanted (and paid for) they were out of, and I need to send them back some acceptable substitutions to clear out the credit on my account.

Also, you might try T's Flowers http://gardenwatchdog.com/c/395/ - she's got a pretty good list, and her seeds are $1/packet, too.

Nat, looks like Terry answered your question. Too bad; they seemed to have good stuff and a very good attitude.

I happened to stumble across this site that lists lots of different garden catalogs by type. http://www.qnet.com/~johnsonj/

Cyndi's site has a lot of catalogs listed, but I suspect the Watchdog has as many or more than any other site out there - in fact, I'd bank on it, *grin*)

OOOH OOOH OOOH I just got Spring Hill's catalogue, and I thought all the stuff in Garden Gate was the best.....oh man, I better get ready to dig a new bed once all this snow and cold go away...I'm only on page 4! OKay, the pic is where the hostas are going, I could go all the way around the pool this year...

Lotsadirt, a bed around your pool will look great!

lotsadirt, take a look here in the Garden Watchdog before you pick up that 'phone!

http://gardenwatchdog.com/c/188/

Thanks for the heads up....actually last year the nursery near me had a lot of the plants I find in the catalogues(Platt Hill in Bloomingdale IL), so I am going to wait to see what I can't get locally. Though I have my eye on a couple things that are in more than one catalogue.
Jennie

any mail order catologs for
shade?

I am planning to make one order only... from Green Mountain Transplants. I was really pleased with the plants we got from them for last years co-op. I figured I buy enough to justify a tray or two from them and call it good. They have an excellent selection with many of the newer & fancier plants at low prices... plus a good selection of the old fashioned, tried & trues. I'm planning to buy plugs from them rather than fill my house up starting seeds.

Here is one of my all time favorites http://jlhudsonseeds.net/Catalog.htm. No frills, no colored pictures, no glossy paper, no high prices.....Excellent collection of hard-to-find and unique seeds from all over the world, can't beat the prices...most are $1.50, some harder to find seeds could be a $1.00 more, or if hard-to-germinate seeds are coated in Gibberillic Acid, then they are $3.00 a packet. Worth every penny in my opinion when you are talking about very difficult seeds to germinate.

Plus, the Garden Watchdog has given J.L. Hudson, Seedman ALL positive ratings...a unanimous conclusion which I concur with.

This message was edited Jan 13, 2004 11:47 PM

I like looking at the Dutch Gardens, High Country Gardens, and Stokes Tropicals catalogues.