Free Garden Catalogs

Flower Seed Catalog Information?

Once again it is flower seed catalog time. I have been burned so many times when ordering seeds. They tell you the zone, whether it is Annual or Perrenial, shade or sun but don't tell you the difficulty to grow. Many of the time the seeds are dustlike or practically require laboratory conditions to grow. What is a good source to find seeds that are a decent size and easy to grow for a typical home gardener without a greenhouse in zone 5? I have good luck with marigolds,asters,zinnnias, but would like to expand my universe. Maybe a company that pelletizes small seeds!

Public Comments

1. If you dont have a greenhouse it could be difficult to grow seeds, because as you know you need to grow them then thin them out and prick them out into another seed tray or pots. Why don't you just visit your local garden centre and purchase the plants you require, or even buy on line they aren't that expensive.
2. nasturtium are really easy to grow from seed, and the seeds are large. I have seen somecompanies sell flower "disks" - it is a paper disk with seeds inside, you plant the disk. some good seeds companies: territorial seed company johnny's seed company (I think it is this one that has the disks) the cook's garden (mostly vegetables, a few flowers - but a nice catalog and choice) and everyone knows burpee
3. I used to get catalogs from Thompson Morgan, they were excellent, had a huge selection and were coded with level of difficulty in propogating, among other things. Territorial seeds also has an excellent catalogue, they have vegetables as well as flowers. Looks like what you are growing are basic flower garden things, I would also suggest bachelor buttons, cosmos, sunflower (I plant the multiflowered kind and use them for cut flowers) and allysum. They pretty much all fit your requirements above and like about the same conditions as the plants you've mentioned. Another suggestion is to plant some herbs...not only will they give you some perrenial action but will provide a good skeleton for your annual flowers and give you yummy things to cook with as well. Some particularly yummy as well as attractive herbs to start with would be lemon thyme and pineapple sage. Rosemary and some oreganos also have lovely flowers, although the best cooking oreganos (in my opinion) have fairly boring tiny white flowers. Basil is an annual herb that would probably enjoy the same conditions that your annual flowers like, there are some pretty purple ones and sprays of basil flowers are quite lovely, if you can keep the plants out of your kitchen long enough to flower that is... Except for basil, and the seeds that self sow in my garden, I plant perennial herbs from purchased starts or cuttings I make - from seed it's a long time to a useful kitchen plant.
4. look for and ask for pelleted seeds ,these are single seed in a clay type surround seed is big enough to handle and will sprout through case