Name your most interesting/exotic/favorite 2005 Catalog

The 2005 Catalogs are arriving and it's time to start dreaming about next spring--

So, everybody, what 2005 Seed-Garden Catalog is your favorite? What has the best selection? Which one has the best photography? Which one has the best descriptions? Most exotic?
Best specialties? And of course, best seeds!

Or does everyone just order from web sites these days? Mmmm....t.

Chilterns Seeds in the UK, no pictures but lots of descriptions.

That's my favorite until the next catalog comes in.

Sheila

OK, best info I've seen from a company is Johnny's Select Seeds! After that I like Pinetree. I have heard from 3 different people so far this year that Parks seed is great but I haven't received mine yet..

Hi again, everybody--

Just wondering---is "Select Seeds" the same as Johnny's Select Seeds?

The 'Select Seeds' catalog (just arrived) is full of really interesting 'antique' and 'old-fashioned' seeds and plants--their tag line is 'Heirloom treasures for modern gardens'. This one may be my favorite so far for interesting offerings. A double page of old fashioned nasturtium and beautiful columbines, and gorgeous antique poppies, including 'ladybird'.

The McClure & Zimmerman Spring 2005 catalog for spring planted bulbs just came, too. Elegant line drawings of all kinds of bulbs that will add "ambiance and character" to the summer garden that 'few other plants can match". And I believe their claim, too, especially if I plant 'Tacca', or 'bat flower', "an eerie gothic charmer" as they say.

Other than those two, I haven't had many catalogs in my mailbox...No Chiltern, No Thomson and Morgan.

I am waiting for one with lots of beautiful pansies. Until then, I will keep on day-dreaming....take care. t.

Select Seeds Antique Flowers is different from Johnny's Selected Seeds - it sounds like you have the first one (Johnny's is mainly veggies.)

I can take a long hot soaking bath with JL Hudson's catalog. No pictures, but sheer volume of offerings is bliss. Ditto for Forestfarm. Bluestone, Park's and Wayside's catalogs are "eye candy" - lots of pretty pictures, which are always nice. Brent & Becky's and John Scheeper's bullb and kitchen catalogs are always nicely done.

I really like Sunlight Gardens catalog. I haven't gotten one yet this year, but it could be because I haven't ordered from them. Old House Gardens catalog is fun, too as is The Cook's Garden. Just depends on what I'm in the mood for ;o)

I am awaiting my absolutely favorite catalog. It is a local one, but I am hoping that they will start mail-order so that others can share in their wonderful perennial plants. Last season, they listed 505 hostas, which I found amazing and I am not much of a hosta fan ### ducking plants here from hosta forum.
Anyway, it is- The Flower Factory 4062 Hwy A Stoughton WI 53589
When family and friends come to visit, we always go there.

If you buy one thing from Gurney's once, your name and address will be sold to those who will inundate you with junk mail. I don't mind it. It's just more seed catalogs and garden related stuff. My favorite catalog is Lehman's. You won't get one every year unless you buy. My camp has gas for the cookstove and lights. The composting toilet keeps DW away from outhouse spiders. Water is brought in. Bathing is in the river. The Amish have great solutions to not using electricity. Lots of great gardening stuff too.

Bluestone Perennials -- beautiful catalog and great selection and for me, they are about a 2 hour drive away, so that is exciting... no shipping charges!! YAYY!

I found one on the net. No pictures, no descriptions, just one heck of a lot of seeds. 1000 seeds is the minimum order on a variety. Lots of them are 5000, 10000, and larger.
The best thing is the price. 1000 seeds costs about the same as a packet anywhere else.
We ordered a lot from them & they are germinating very well. That was the one thing I was concerned about.
Order tonight, they will be in your mailbox in a couple of days.
E-mail me for web address.
Bernie

I love to look at the catalogs that roll in this time of year. I always check them against the Garden Watchdog for ratings and to see who owns what. Very interesting sometimes!

Lehman's! Haven't thought about that store since I used to scour Ohio Amish country for quilts to re-sell in antiques shops in San Francisco (in the 70's)! I think Lehman's is wonderful--all those neat gadgets for the 'simple life'.

http://www.lehmans.com/jump.jsp?itemType=CATEGORY&itemID=844&i1Cat=950&i2Cat=832&i3Cat=844&i4Cat=0

Looked up Sunlight Gardens website and signed up for a catalog. Noticed they are in east Tennessee (off I 75) and specialize is native eastern plants.(Being just down the road, they may be in for a visit from us!) Sunlight has the new mango orange and yellow cone flowers hybridized at the Chicago Botanic Gardens that everyone talks about. New for them this year is the Alabama Crimson Coral Honeysuckle which is 'choice' they say and highly attractive to hummingbirds. I need one of those for my bird/mailbox garden. ( My neighbor has a coral honeysuckle and she steals all my summer birds with it!) http://www.sunlightgardens.com/aboutsunlight.html

It's hard to believe somebody could have more than 500 varieties of Hostas but if memory serves me there are lots of Hosta-holics in southern Wisconsin..."The Flower Factory" must be the source of the 'condition'. (We go up to WI from time to time...used to live in Madison/Middleton (while at the 'U') and take little trips around to Lake Geneva, New Glarus and Spring Green--so we will have to add TFF to our WI tourist stops...)

I suppose to get a Chiltern I'll have to pay for it. Ouch!

Thanks everybody for all the good tips. I love great catalogs for these dull days and long nights!

t.

If you want to see lots of Hosta & new ones go to www.shadyoaks.com
They are just down the road from me, of course I've never been there!
I didn't realize where they were until I saw an ad in a national greenhouse mag. I had heard people talk about them.
I think you have to buy through a broker & not them directly.
Bernie

Im getting some GREAT daylily magazines!!!
I just scan the seed magazines and then they are tossed to the trash pile!
Im going for LIVE plants from now on!
daylily,iris,roses,hosta and shade plants! ;)

I luv my Eureka DL guide-pretty pretty!

Klehm's Song Sparrow-love the photo's can't afford the prices.
Also Horizon Herbs of course for herbs,love the photo's in Wayside also.
Just received a new one called Plant Delights Nursery,some real unusual plants,also like Harris-eye candy...Seymor's and Thompson & morgan.I like bluestones also.Jody
edited to add more catalogs then to correct spelling duh.lol

This message was edited Jan 26, 2005 5:23 PM

This message was edited Jan 26, 2005 5:24 PM

Tabasco-they are certainly part of the problem-not much else to do this time of the year--slurpy snow...Ack. I think that they have been open for about 20 years-started off selling at the Dane County Farmers Market. I think that you will love it-just take one of the red wagons and wander in and out and in and out. If you contact them, the new catalogs should be coming out soon-to give us all hope of spring here.
They list hosta (2004 catalog) from hosta aequinoctiiantha to " Zounds"
Do you remember Bruce and Company-Beltline Middleton-they are Huge now.-really big in the garden/gift area, as well as the nursery and major panting projects.
JodyC-Klehms is on the way to my old HS, I think they purchased the land that once belonged to a schoolmates' family( a Long time ago)-I need to get down there (but Not to visit the HS-ick :) ) Oh those peonies!!! I really need some of the Corals that they grow.

I've been drooling over a shady oaks catalog my boss gave me for a couple of months now- I hope in the spring I can get her to order some...
Been looking at tons of daylillies online- notmartha, what magazines do you get for daylillies besides the eureka guide?
I love Forest Farm, Wayside and Parks, David Austin's Rose Catalog, Cooks Garden. And I've been eyeing those pretty Northern Lights Azaleas at Bluestone.
Marcia, The coral peonies have been added to my must have list, too!
Cindy

Forest farm is my fave as far as selection and info but no pix though. T&M, Burpee, and Parks have the best pix.

Brent & Beckys and Bluestone are some faves too.

I really like Stokes , Select Seeds, and Territorial Seed. There is such good germination information in the Stokes catalogs. And reasonable too. I have never ordered from Pinetree but they look wonderful too.

Plant Delights

http://www.plantdelights.com/

"Graceful Gardens", specializing in Delphiniums and Cottage Gardens just arrived yesterday. The Shenstone family growers from Mecklenburg, NY, offer the rarely seen Dowdeswell 'New Milleniums' from New Zealand (in five colors) that offer good heat tolerance and makes the delphinium an easier option for warmer weather. A modest little pamphlet with few graphics, but the descriptions are quaint and thorough. GG prices are excellent and a fine rating from the garden watchdog.

I love Hudson's, Plant Delights, Forest Farm but they did not send me anything. Guess I have to order something. The others I don't know about (yet!)...t.

tabasco, all three you just mentioned will send you a catalog, gratis.

I *try* to order from most of the vendors I routinely request a catalog from - if not every year, then at least every second or third year. The catalogs aren't necessarily cheap to produce or send, and I'd rather help support a company with orders (and see something in return for my $$) rather than contribute to financial pressures that eventually cause them to raise their prices to cover their marketing costs ;o)

Hi, Terry and everybody, yes, producing and printing catalogs is a huge cost for the growers/distributors so I, too, am reluctant to ask for catalogs that I won't be ordering from. Also I try to recycle and pass around to my sisters and gardening friends some of my favorites, --makes me feel less wasteful--and I ask to share theirs, too.

I guess I have become even more sensitive to Recycling and Conservation since I started studying 'Backyard Birding' on the DG Wildlife Forum--and realized how many supposedly common birds are becoming endangered or even extinct because of lumbering and paper production. (Hurray for DG again! ). The use of growers' websites address some of these issues, but there is still nothing like reading a (voluptuous) seed catalog and wishing and hoping for spring on a cold January night! Off topic. Sorry! t.

JL Hudson's and FF's are both on plain paper - much easier to recycle (if that helps ease your conscience.) I typically request one catalog from each vendor offering one as research for the GWD. (I keep a thick stack of catalogs - one per vendor, some of which date back several years. The old one gets tossed if/when a new one comes in.)

If I didn't need to stay up-to-date on who's who in the mailorder industry, I would definitely refrain from requesting a catalog unless I was sure I'd order from them. I've long thought we (gardeners) should convince Park Seed to send just ONE catalog per year (maybe two, if they must.) They were one of my very first "discoveries" as a new gardener eons ago, and I still order some things from them, but I cringe when I toss out a stack of outdated catalogs and realize they sent me 6-12 full-color, glossy catalogs throughout the year. Often the inside is identical, but they've changed the cover - yikes.

Well, who has the best Pansies? I want to try to grow some exotic Pansies! I WILL order some of those. I promise! ...Not just be a lookie-loo. :-)

The Klehm's Song Sparrow Catalog came today. What a beautiful catalog--beautiful photos, quality paper and printing, and an interesting collection of plants, especially peonies, hostas and perennials.

Even though the plants seem a little pricey they carry lots of unusual varieties and they assure that they are of quality. I think I will definitely order from them, just to keep the catalog coming, if for no other reason!

Have a good weekend. t.

My favorite by far is Plant World in Devon England.www.plantworld-devon.co.uk . This year they have a beautiful photo of each plant with its description.

For me, it's gotta be J.L. Hudson. http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/

It's a public access seed bank, that's been around for almost 100 years. Truly an amazing variety of species & cultivars, many that I haven't seen anywhere else, plus Gibberellic Acid kits, books, germination instructions, etc. No photos, but there are some line drawings and the text is such interesting reading you won't miss the photos. Can always find them somewhere on the internet anyway.

Very reasonable prices too!

~Shannon

Logee's, Territorial and Seeds of Change - ahhhhh!