Winter doldrums are soon swept away from the appearance of seed and plant catalogs inside the mailbox. Usually all around the New Year, gardeners greet the postal person with uncharacteristic glee. Seed and plant catalogs will be the harbinger of finer weather and fun times inside the outdoors. Using mail order catalogs, and in fact now online companies, requires just a little understand how and sometimes some translation. Here are a few guidelines approach decipher plant catalogs and obtain the ideal plants for the garden and the very best value.
The following is my “top 10 list” of seed and plant catalogs suitable for New England
- Fedco Seeds (Maine ) Their new 137 page catalog covers seeds, tubers and organic growing supplies. The emphasis is requried to be made by hardy and short-season varieties ideal for northern gardens.
- Nourse Farms (Massachusetts ) Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, currants, gooseberries live plants, including new introductions. They‘re my first choice for berries.
- Territorial Seed Company (Oregon ) Very informative catalog, 167 pages, ought to be a model for others. Clearly indicates which seeds are open pollinated, that F1 hybrids, that organic, disease resistance, days to maturity, etc. Most seeds can be found in several packet sizes, starting from small samplers to larger packets for small commercial growers.
- Artistic Gardens / Le Jardin du Gourmet (Vermont ) Their 50 Sample Herb Packet Special is really a regular annual purchase for myself. At other seed company you pay $3 or so for any packet containing enough basil seeds for any pesto factory. Total overkill for a little garden, and expensive if you need to plant a wide selection of herbs. Except for a really reasonable price Le Jardin du Gourmet offers a bundle of 50 herb seed packets, each very small, but providing “just enough” seeds for my small garden. You do not have control during the variety, if you absolutely should have Genovese Basil, this Isn‘t for you personally, but consequently for quitting control during the variety you will get large choice of culinary and traditional medicinal herbs for a really reasonable price. I see it also gets me to grow herbs I might not otherwise try, like lovage or horehound.
- Seed Savers Exchange (Iowa ) This is actually the open source project from the seed world. Individual amateur gardeners and little farms preserving 12, 613 varieties of heirloom, ethnic and unique vegetable varieties, growing from seed, and harvesting and preserving the seed to pass onto the next year. The resulting huge diversity of seeds are shared with members for the price of postage. The variety is staggering. In the event that they don’t have it, it probably doesn’t exist (or is protected using a plant patent ). A subset of the most famous heirloom varieties is to buy on the website, but to obtain the full phonebook-thick catalog of member-offered seeds, you have to join.
- White Flower Farm (Connecticut ) The catalog, fully photographed in luscious detail, is really a feast to the eyes. Strong on perennials (herbaceous and woody ) and bulbs. I apply it just the maximum amount of to generate ideas as We do for ordering.
- Johnny’s Selected Seeds (Maine ) Time passes to Johnny’s especially for their new vegetable variety introductions. For instance, they introduced “Bright Lights” Swiss chard, one among my favorites. Their catalog always has anything new to seem forward to.
- Raintree Nursery (Washington ) If you would like something unusual inside the fruit department, this is how to reach. From medlars to hardy kiwi to saskatoons, they‘ve it. Their catalog has also the cultural information you have to be successful, including recommendations on compatible pollinators.
- Bluestone Perennials (Ohio ) Along using the White Flower Farm catalog, this really is my main source for perennials. The PlantFinder internet search results on the website is great for finding plants for any special niche, like “Zone 6 hardy, deer resistant groundcovers with blue flowers”.
- Totally Tomato (Wisconsin ) The name says all of it. If you prefer a specific tomato variety and no substitute can do, this is actually the spot to go. For instance, their catalog lists 41 different cherry tomato varieties. This is actually the “long tail” from the lycopersicum world.