Thompson and Morgan?

Does Thompson and Morgan have seed sales? I *think* I remember seeing a sale page for T&M but I'm not sure. ?

I am in Fort Wayne so I can't look right now. I don't think so. I have there current catalog and was just looking at it a couple of days ago. What they do have is ...if you buy off these two pages you get these for free....but there free(seeds) usually are nothing special.

yes they do
they ship from both England &/or USA
i have ordered seed from them that i could not find else where
http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/us/en/

Dick

Hi Dick.....were are the seed sales? I am curious for myself.

so far i havent seen Tand M mark any of their seeds on sale yet online. now in the cataloug they may have sent them out with the sales page in them. you can also sign up for their newsletters and they tell you whats on sale when it goes on sale. but so far nothing has been marked "sale " yet online.

Hi, I just recently ordered seeds from Thompson and Morgan. They are "pricey" to say the least, but I got 8 "freebies", including pink peony poppies, annual lupins "Summer Spires", and "ripple" geraniums. I wanted those ones anyway, so it was a good deal for me!

How do I ask for a catalog?Sure do like the selection.Jody
Sorry I ordered it.
edited to add

This message was edited Dec 25, 2004 1:07 PM

After ordering from them previously and then getting on their email distribution, I was receiving promotions for discounted seeds, etc. I've since changed my email address and don't receive them anymore...I bet you can get on their distribution list through their website.

~Angela

Found them when looking for a specific tomato. They sent a catalog with my seed order...catalog browsing is such fun! Also...talked with their horticulturalist. She used to live in Florida so it was doubly interesting to discuss tomato issues. She steered me to try something new since the tomato seeds I wanted had just sold out for the season.

soozer what kind did you order.

kareoke -- Was looking for the Santa, hybrid grape tomato -- very sweet. She thought I would like the Sungold, cherry -- very sweet. So will be planting the Sungold! Ever grown the Sungold? Will try the Santa next year...

no I haven't but might try them, I like the small ones

Last year when I received several orders from them I started to get sales lists of discontinued seeds. Its possible you may have to be a customer to receive their offers.

I just went there, clicked on the "get catalog" they are sending it to me.

I've always had good luck with orders from T&M, though they can be very creative in their plant names and very creative with their photography. Some 'new' and 'rare' plants are not all that new and rare, and are offered elsewhere for far less.

What T&M does offer is some information, such as botanical names, germination and growing info, etc. It's a wonderful 'wish book' for these long winter months. When you get the hard copy catalog, you will find offers of "a packet of free seeds with the purchase of anything on these two pages". If you are interested in purchasing seeds from those pages, it is a good deal. At the end of the catalog, they usually offer a few types of seeds for 99 cents a pack, as well.

Maybe that's what I remember, the 99 cents thing. I won't even let myself look at their printed catalog b/c I end up wanting just about everything in there!

T&M have a great marketing thing going. I have to give them credit for that. I end up buying a few things from them every year, even though I know they are working me a bit!

I visit a large retail nursery about 45 minutes away that usually has a pretty good selection of their seeds for sale. If anyone is really in need of something email me privately at smarfran@aol.com and when I go for my usual seed hunt, usually in January (I think that's when they put them out), I can see if they have them. Seeds are pricey as folks mentioned, but at least you wouldn't have to spend the $4.00 on shipping if you're only looking for one or two items.

Sandy

Great idea, Sandy -- Thanks for the suggestion/offer.

I don't want to cheat T&M out of a sale, mind you, but it is always a good idea to look up the varieties on the web to look for better bargains. I have done this, and in some cases, the seeds are readily available through someone else with more seeds at a lower price. In some cases, however, T&M was a better deal. It doesn't hurt to shop around, and for those seeds that you want from T&M, seedsower's offer is a generous one. Shipping costs have to be factored in when looking for bargains in the catalogs.

The great thing about thompson and morgan is you get what you pay for. I don't have to worry about weeds coming up instead of what I bought. You also know that they don't mislabel so you always get what you planned on and germination rates are GREAT!

I like using T&M for things like when I ordered Monkshood from different companies and none came up so I thought the extra money was worth buying from T&M and I did get seedlings!

CaptMicha,

I can only think that the US operation is much better than the UK one because of people I've talked to who buy from the UK, the mislabelling, germination rates and expense are just too much for what you get here. (yes yes Baa shut up, we've heard it 50 times before *G*). The Garden Watchdog entry for the UK is littered with these complaints.

They used to do sale seed lists here in the back of the catalogue but it's been a long time since I've seen one of those.

That's interesting, Baa. I never considered that the UK catalog was much different than the one in the US. I know we are not allowed to order some of the fringed somniferum seeds, such as Raspberry and Green Apple here in the US, but I think it some sort of customs issue.

The US T&M catalog offers free seeds with purchases on certain pages, as well as the 99 cent sales in the back. My greatest complaint with T&M is the inventive names they apply to some of their seeds, especially when they are not cultivars of note, but just a species of some plant that's been around forever. As to germination, I couldn't really say for sure. I do know that some of the seeds they offer are not easily propagated from seed, but they do offer germination info, so buyer beware, I guess.

As you say, Baa, we've hashed over the T&M issue often enough that their ears should be tingling! I can only say again that we poor gardeners on this side of the pond are grateful to tears to see a catalog that offers so much information and such lovely pictures, not to mention the huge selection.

Having checked out online catalogs from the UK, I can see your seed purchasing choices are so much greater than here that T&M may seem like the Weekly World News compared to the New York Times from your perspective. It is eye opening to see the Chilterns online catalog with all the varieties available, but we Yanks miss the pics and info.

I've nothing against the T&M catalogue in general, there is a lot of info and photos compared to others and they do have a sort of experience guide too. The UK main catalogue isn't all that different and yes there are free seeds if you buy XXX with YYY but nothing like 99c seeds in the back. 99c is approximately 55pence here and the cheapest from T&M UK is 99pence so I can't help feeling a tad put out at that too *G*

We did receive a half price plants catalogue from them today, probably due to poor sales in the autumn, but I've not yet reviewed it so I will hold comment. Suffice to say that they were selling Viola 'Envy' plants a few years ago for the current equivalent of $32.60 each sooo I'm not holding my breath ;)

Indeed we are blessed with seed companies here and Chilterns is often slated for no pics by UK buyers, I'd say Chilterns catalogue does require some research but imagine how big that catalogue would be with nearly 5000 photos added! A lot of the other seed companies also sell to the US which begs the question ... are the US based seed companies improving their catalogues to take on the international competition? I think that, given the rise in gardening popularity, it will happen.

Yes, Baa, I see your point. Chilters would be hard pressed to print a catalog with all that info, and I'll bet most of you season UK gardeners don't need all that anyway. I would suggest that we US gardeners have become spoiled by all the pics in our catalogs. It is what gets our blood pumping before the season opens! LOL!

The problem with all those lovely photos is that they are often misleading. If you compare the catalog photos with the photos offered in the PF (akaPDB) here on Dave's, the blooms are certainly sparcer in the real world. I've even seen catalog photos of mixed flowers growing in a pot with all the different colored blooms coming from one plant... now that's what I call great gardening! LOL!