Seed Catalogs!

I got my first one yesterday, from Michigan Bulb!

How about you?

I got my first (from Vesey's) in early December. I need to get my order in - they have a nantes type carrot called Bilbo! Must have it!

LOLOL!

A co-worker got her Burpee catalog, and I went ahead and ordered one for myself, though I won't be ordering, just enjoying the photos.

I love the Burpee catalog, and I try to order from them at least once a year. Their products have always been successful, and as advertised.

Does anyone get Thompson & Morgan? I used to be on their mailing list, and always loved browsing it.

I've got an old copy of Thompson & Morgan stashed with my gardening magazines. It is beautiful.

Don't think so, staffordcastle.

For the past couple of years, I've bought copies of The Whole Seed Catalog at The Dollar General, because they are just so beautifully done. Last year we put a large order together among ladies at work. Because of the turmoil on my ridgetop, I didn't put in a garden, so I'll have most of the collection to try this year.

However, I did just receive the 2019 catalog in the mail - for free! I've already noted a favorite from my childhood. Yellow pear tomatoes. They were best warm from the sun and popped in the mouth.

>9 2wonderY: I'm just going to gently point out that *all* tomatoes (except perhaps the Roma) are best warm from the sun, and popped in the mouth. Now I want some summer tomatoes. :-{

>10 Lyndatrue: Yes, but the memory of that experience with that particular variety is one of my food memory highlights. I was the only child who helped my dad in the garden. I recall following him around when I was no more than 5 or 6, probably stepping where I shouldn't, but still welcomed. At Christmas, I got my very own set of gardening tools, junk though they were.

Has anyone tried celtuce, aka asparagus lettuce? Chinese lettuce raised for the stem.

I'm all for easy foods... How about growing weeds?

(The Baker Creek catalog is stashed in the ladies restroom at work so all the gardeners in the building can check it out, so I'll be posting randomly about the entries for a while.)

They are selling Burdock seeds! This would normally make me want to scream. Burdock is one of those nasty perennials you don't want to allow to establish itself. And what is edible there? Well, it's the massive taproot. And how do you harvest them? I'm not digging up those suckers!

Nope. Do what the Japanese do - build a box!
http://rosewoods.com/making-a-gobo-box/

>12 2wonderY: thanks for reviving this thread.

I still love looking at the seed catalogs. I don’t have a vegetable garden anymore, but enjoy remembering.

Invasives, grrr. I despise the ones that someone else planted and I’ve found impossible to eradicate. Milkweed provides a butterfly benefit and has been fairly easy to control. Privet just takes over our yard. One privet located next to where we park our cars fell over during a wet snowfall. The cars weren’t damaged thankfully.

I adore seed catalogs...it's almost that time again.

>14 Dejah_Thoris: I like them even better than the old Sears Wish Book...

>15 fuzzi: Lol - me, too! Not too many good Black Friday deals from the seed/plant companies this year.

I haven't received a seed catalog in years, and I feel a slight pang jealousy, or at least envy, in hearing that others have. Then again, it's been years since I planted anything that I needed a seed catalog for...most seed lasts a long time, so you can just plant a few each year. One of the few that needs to be purchased new every year is Parsnips. Then again, I don't think I've grown those in at least ten years, maybe more.

Thinking about seeds makes me remember that Spring will arrive. :-}

Not seeds, but perennials. I got a slender spring catalog from Bluestone.
It seems to have all their normal varieties. The cover proclaims “Drought & Heat Resistant” but there are no notes inside to indicate this distinction.

But it’s a catalog!
I had started following several bulb companies on Instagram and was inundated with sales offers till I quit. I had requested catalogs, but never got them. Shrug. That’s how I shop long distance. Too bad for them.

I feel a need to mention Katharine S. White's collection called Onward and Upward in the Garden here. If you haven't received a catalog, and are hungering for the feel and look, the first half of this book is devoted to her reviews in The New Yorker, of seed catalogs in the 1950s and 1960s. Surprisingly, many of them are still going.

I resist the temptation to order catalogs, although I love them. I know if I were browsing I could not resist. Then if I purchased, it would be very difficult at this time to follow through.

A catalog I do love is from Mountain Rose Herb Company in Oregon. They are an organic company, very into preservation, which sells herbs, spices, teas and oils plus more. Their catalog is filled with recipes and ideas, preservation teaching, etc. They also send a free packet of seeds to plant with each order. These seeds are deemed necessary to get reestablished in gardens. I received one, but as I am a very casual gardener, nothing came of it.

Burpee and Jung's have arrived. Jung's actually has those Cupcake cosmos, so I might have to pick some up.

>19 2wonderY: I love their catalog and the site, but you're right, they have lots of filters on the site, but none (so far) for drought or heat resistant.

I got two Baker Creek seed catalogs, gorgeous!

>22 fuzzi: I think that is the seed catalog I was looking at in the oncologist office today! Only this was for 2023. I was taking pictures of the flowers I would like to have. Looks like the website is rareseeds.com.

Don't know if I will get around to ordering them, let alone planting, but a girl can dream.

>23 MrsLee: that's the place!

I was very pleased with their seeds, so a couple months ago I ordered for 2024.