Comments regarding Harris Seeds / Garden Trends

I've ordered all my pumpkin seeds from this company for the past 3 years and have had excellent luck. They offer a nice selection and have fair prices.

I ordered seed from the internet...and received it the following week. Had no problems at all.

I ordered supplies for seed germination from Harris Seeds. I had a few specific questions about heating mats. When I called to speak to a customer service representative, she connected me with the gentleman who is in charge of the "accessories" department. He answered all of my questions in detail, offering a lot of useful information that would not have otherwise been available to me. He was clearly interested in providing excellent customer service, and encouraged me to call him back if I had additional questions once I received the product. This was a very positive experience. I ordered the products from them right away. Sure beats speaking to someone who asks you what page of the catalog you are looking at so that they can read the product description back to you when you ask them a question!

Hi,

Placed two orders with them, hoping they'd get their act together. Forget about it (as of 2001, won't order from in 2002). Mis-shipped simple order and backordered indefinitely some seed starting kits that were obviously low-balled because every other catalog was more expensive.
Cheesy answer why they weren't available (other companies had no problem filling order).
Year before, seed was of marginal quality.
Caveat emptor!

Having grown up on a commercial vegetable farm, I cannot promote Harris Seeds and Harris-Moran enough. In 40+ years, we have never had any problems with quality, delivery, or germination. Their variety is some of the best around in both vegetable and flower seeds.

I ordered some calla lily bulbs and some begonia plants from Harris. The bulbs came up nicely, but I was very disappointed with the plants. They were very small and even though I planted and watered them, all but one died. I don't think I'll order from them again.

I would like to add a comment on Harris. I ordered an inexpensive propagation chamber (a Styrofoam cooler heated with a light bulb) and an Abutilon plant, not seed. The "cooler" came long before the plant. While waiting for the plant, I started Abutilon seeds from Burpee. I had 15 gorgeous 6" plants weeks before the poor spindly 8" plant arrived. I have worked and worked with the plant but I think it's a goner. The "cooler" on the other hand is an unqualified success. I have started many plants in it and have had uniform (excellent) germination. I will order more propagation systems and never order another plant! Don't know about their seeds.

I also bought a plant stand from Harris Seed. Although I did not get it on sale, they did give me a $30.00 credit for anything else I wanted to order. Their stands are the best built and the most reasonable priced I found. I had a light that came damaged and they replaced it right away. They sent me another light before they had to damaged light back. I will order from Harris Seed next year and every year there after that I garden. They go out of their way for their customers.

I purchased a wonderful light stand from Harris. After doing much comparison shopping because it is a major investment (although it pays for itself with the savings from starting your own plants from seed). The Harris light stand was the best designed I found also at the best price!!! It gave me the most growing area for the space required, is on wheels, hold standard size flats and included light bulbs with the purchase price. Not only that...there was an early bird special and I got it "on sale"! I LOVE IT!

They primarily sell seeds, lots of seeds, many varieties (including single colors of impatiens, for one example), though they have recently added a seedling service and a minimalist perennial selection. They also sell good supplies and equipment for starting seeds. They produce seeds, and briefly discuss seed treatments in their catalog and allude to their trial results in the ad copy. This focus even shows in comments about lilies: "The earliest lily to flower in our trials this summer..."If a variety doesn't do well in a cold soil test, they don't sell it, so their catalog should be of particular interest to northern gardeners. I've had good luck (i.e. better than the alternatives) with their seeds and varieties, as have many people I know in Minnesota and Michigan.