I make love , every paper catalog now has a digital variant and it ’s more environmentally friendly . But when it comes to seed catalogs , staring at a filmdom just does n’t satisfy in the way that thumb through a paper catalog , circling matter with a penitentiary , and dog - earing Page does . I consume it like a good Christian Bible , curled up on the lounge on a showery day .
Page after page , the pictures and descriptions spring to life in my mind … Seedlings gape and stretching in the sunrise sunshine , deep red red tomatoes ( or are they chicken or purple or striped ? ) getting heavy on the vine , watermelons ripening just in prison term for picnics by a lake .
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There ’s a lot to look fore to with spring ( and summer and crepuscule ) garden , and it all begins in the pages of seed catalogs .
Here , I ’ve gathered a leaning of the best ejaculate catalog you’re able to order from this year ( updated for the 2025 farm time of year ) .
While all of these company have on-line memory board for well-to-do shopping , the recommendations below , in particular , still offer print catalogs that hope to brighten up your mailbox all wintertime long .
What makes these the best seed catalogs?
This list is by no means thoroughgoing , and there are spate of other wonderful cum society not mentioned here . But the ones below I recommend are also the ones I ’ve had the most experience with , whose seeds I ’ve started twelvemonth after year with corking success .
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These are all ethical companies doing unspoiled work and they consider in kick upstairs biodiversity in the food organization . Their seeds have consistently enceinte germination rates ( more than 90 percent in most eccentric for me ) , and perhaps more importantly , they care about their customers and provide a high-pitched layer of service .
My favorite free seed catalogs
Richters (Goodwood, Ontario, Canada)
I discovered Richters over 14 years ago when I purchase several works starts from their nursery . If you ’re wonder why I ’d order plant from Canada ( when I was experience in California at the time ) , well , they were theonlynursery that carried ( and shipped ) unusual herbs I could n’t find elsewhere !
But plant start are n’t their only forte . Richters ’ catalogue boast an awe-inspiring selection of herbaceous plant seminal fluid , including rare and endangered varieties of culinary and medicinal herb you ’ve likely never heard of . This year , they have an telling 63(yes , 63!)varieties of basil , 10 variety of dill , 8 varieties of chamomile , 8 varieties of cilantro , 10 kind of Petroselinum crispum , and 10 varieties of salvia , to give some deterrent example .
Richters also carry many vegetable seeds , but herbs are where they unfeignedly smooth . This year , I ’m orderingfireweed seedsfor my repeated flower bed and the shoulder along my driveway . If you ’ve ever visit a ardour - ravage woods or hiked in a national park in summer , you ’ve probably see these beautiful perennial wildflowers in blossom . They ’re also eatable ( all part of the plant life ) and medicinal !
Territorial Seed Company (Cottage Grove, OR)
Territorial Seed Company is located just over the Cascade Range from me , and I fuck plump for other Oregon byplay .
They have a 75 - acre test , enquiry , and production farm that ’s certified USDA Organic , and their location ( at 900 feet elevation in the rainy Willamette Valley ) means it ’s a challenge to maturate retentive - season , spicy - weather crops . So if you live in a like clime that stays cool at night all summer , you could be assured that any multifariousness Territorial Seed grows and offers is likely to do well in your own garden !
Shop their wide assortment of vegetable , herb , fruit , flower , and cover craw seeded player online , or call for a free catalogue from their web site .
Botanical Interests (Broomfield, CO)
I make out prescribe from Botanical Interests because their seed packets are beautiful and pass down , the beneficial I ’ve learn from any seed provider .
Each packet have a elaborate creative person ’s rendering of the plant in front . Peel open up the packet and inside you ’ll incur a mini cyclopedia fill with an incredible amount of selective information on growing , harvesting , pest control , fake tips , and industrial plant history . If you ’re new to growing , you ca n’t go wrong with Botanical Interests because they ’re truly invest in your success as a gardener .
They carry a curated selection of just over 600 multifariousness of constituent , heirloom , and native seeds . you may request a seed catalog in the postal service or browse a digital translation online .
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (Mansfield, MO)
If you ’ve been come after my blog for some clip , you know I ’m a big buff of Baker Creek . ( revelation : They ’ve carried mycookbooksin their catalog and had me talk at their outcome in the past times . )
Baker Creek specializes inheirloom seeds , many of which they grow and trial on their farm in Missouri . ( Check out my behind - the - scenestour of Baker Creek home base . )
Many of the plant I ’ve profiled on my web log ( likeMexican Sour Gherkins ( cucamelons),Romanesco Brassica oleracea italica , Purple of Romagna globe artichoke , Pisces peppers , andBlack Futsu crush ) come from Baker Creek seed .
The flagship Whole Seed Catalog is big and beautiful ( over 500 pages ! ) and scan like a tidy magazine ( kind of like the September issue of Vogue … but picture wide - grin Farmer instead of distant supermodel ) .
It ’s chock full of seed history , growing resources , recipes , and Sir Frederick Handley Page after Thomas Nelson Page of eye confect have more than 1,000 heirloom seed varieties ( which , if you could believe it , is only a fraction of their full selection ) . They also offer a destitute smaller catalogue upon request , or you could crop their extract online .
Fedco Seeds (Clinton, ME)
Fedco is dissimilar from many other seed companies in that it ’s a co-op own by its consumer and doer member , who share in the profits through one-year dividend .
They ’re also one of the few source companies that specialise incold - hardy flora varieties(they’re free-base in the northeast , after all ) and their seeds are specially accommodate to abrasive climates . So if you often clamber with producing a practiced crop , you ’ll be interested in their short - season varieties .
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I mostly have it away them for their seminal fluid selection , but Fedco also carries cum potatoes , onion sets , tree , and electric-light bulb . They operate seasonally , which helps keep prices lowly .
Fedco print three unlike catalogs for their various divisions . you may request a mail - ordering catalog , download a PDF version , or shop online .
Sow True Seed (Asheville, NC)
My fixation with Sow True Seed began when I set up several udder of cover harvest seeds from the companionship — I really like the raised bed mixture they offered .
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Then I decided to try planting potato onion and Egyptian walk onion plant in my perennial vegetable bottom , and they were one of the few sites that stock these seeds . Now , I ’m eyeing their mushroom cloud plugs , which I ’d love to bestow to a shady spot in my garden .
The worker - have cooperative prints a rather petite catalogue compare to some other companies , but it ’s backpack with seed variety ranging from classic to unique : consider ground nuts , peanuts , luffa gourd , birdhouse bottle gourds , and other play thing I ’m eyeing for my girl ’s school garden ! ( Not to name my own . )
High Mowing Organic Seeds (Wolcott, VT)
High Mowing Organic Seeds is one of the few garden seed companies that is 100 percent certified organic and Non - GMO Project Verified .
They also spearheaded the Safe Seed Pledge in 1999 and recruited nine other seed ship’s company to sign a statement against genetic engineering . ( The assurance has since been signed by more than 370 source companies worldwide , include many on this list . )
High Mowing puts out consistently gamy - timber vegetable , fruit , herb , and flower seeds every class that are attest organic . ( But do n’t confuse organic with heirloom — the company sell open - cross-pollinate heirloom as well as hybrid seeds breed for smack , yield , and disease resistance . )
Their seed catalog ( available by mail and online ) is unlike other garden seed catalogue in that it also features personal profiles on the growers , farmers , and gardeners who use their seeds . They ’re a large bonus read !
Turtle Tree Seed (Copake, NY)
Turtle Tree Seed is unique in that it offersonlyDemeter - certified biodynamic seeds , of which 75 per centum are grown at their own intentional community in Upstate New York ( with the ease grow on biodynamic kinsperson farms , whom you may read about in their catalog ) .
Biodynamics is a sustainable and holistic approach shot to farming that use only constituent materials for fertilizing and soil conditioning , and often bases farming activities on lunar cycles . It look at the entire farm as a closed - loop , biodiverse , and integrated ecosystem where the ground , plant , animate being , and humans parent each other .
What all of that substance is biodynamic seeds may be more resilient ( fending off pestilence and diseases and yielding heavy harvests ) without needing outside inputs . Intrigued ? Well , you never know unless you try out !
Seed Savers Exchange (Decorah, IA)
Much more than just a garden cum company , Seed Savers Exchange is a nonprofit dedicated to preserving biodiversity in nutrient crops .
They compile and store thousands of rare heirloom seed varieties in the state ’s largest nongovernmental seed bank , and operate the world ’s largest on-line seed central where members can look and swop open - pollinated seed and plants .
If you ’re in their neck of the woods , you’re able to inflict the display gardens and farm where a lot of their work take office . For everyone else , Seed Savers Exchange offer a beautiful photographic print catalog and digital catalog , or you could frequent their veggie , herb , and flower seed online .
Pinetree Garden Seeds (New Gloucester, ME)
Pinetree has been around for over 40 years , though I only started using their seed in the last few years . So far , I ’ve hadstrong germinationrates and fat harvest every time , so I feel sure-footed in recommend them .
Pinetree Garden Seeds is a family - own and operated business organisation with an extensive catalogue of veggie , herb , and flower seeds ( over 1,300 varieties ) , along with live plants , Tuber , seed garlic , mushroom cloud log , gardening supplies , soap - cause supplies , tea , spices , and books . It ’s a bit head - flabbergast how much they carry !
They have an excellent full - coloring material catalog that you’re able to request by mail , or you’re able to pasture their PDF catalogue online .
More seed companies you should know about
Are there other great semen companies with printed catalog I should garner ? lease me know your favorite source and I may summate them in next class ’s update !
Start here if you’re starting seeds
This post update from an article that in the first place seem on January 23 , 2020 .
