How To Read Seed Catalogs
Get the most from your garden order
Every year in late winter to early spring new seed/plant catalogs arrive in our mailboxes or onto our favorite gardening eCommerce sites. The anticipation of new varieties and the sheer number of available cultivars fuels our collective gardening fervor.
Balancing our gardening frenzy with more prudent purchasing is a skill new and seasoned gardeners must acquire: Have fun but be practical.
Here are some insights and guidelines to help navigate the printed or online pages of your favorite seed and plant catalogs.
Learn the seed catalog’s layout
First, figure out the organization of the catalog or website. Find the index of variety categories or category pages of the company website. For example, look for important categories like non-GMO or Organic options.
In a print index you can highlight categories with the most interest that will require in-depth investigation. If you work from this process, when you get deep into the pages and become dizzied by the sheer number of splendid sounding varieties and totally forget what you were even looking for, you can always go back to the index or return to the website home page to reset. Then continue with a more focused and frugal search.
Identify the symbols
Many seed catalogs and online garden stores will use icons, symbols, or “Collections” to indicate varieties that offer reliability and valuable plant predictability. If you are not familiar with these or simply miss them, you may be overlooking dependable or superior cultivars.
Here are examples of helpful symbols or collections you might find in seed catalogs or on websites:
‘Flagship Seeds’—The “Flagship Seed Collection” are tried-and-true varieties proven in our own test gardens and from our customers’ gardens.
‘H’—indicates heirloom or heritage, open-pollinated varieties that have been in commerce for over 50 years.
‘AAS Winners’—These are All American Selections of flowers and vegetables that have been “Tested Nationally & Proven Locally” by this impartial, non-profit gardening organization. You can be assured these items are tested for their superior home garden performance by horticultural professionals from every corner of the U.S.
Review shipping schedules
Shipping schedules are important—you need to know what to expect. Planning is paramount for gardeners—you need to prepare.
If you cannot find the information you are looking for, just ask. Every eCommerce site will have a “Contact Us” tab or button, so don’t be afraid to utilize it.
Asking for shipping information is way better than being surprised by a package or worse, missing an important planting window.
More helpful tips
As with any retail business, prices may be discounted for bulk orders, or there may be “Early Bird’ specials. If these are not front and center search them out or just ask.
Maybe the company has periodic specials for free shipping. Again, it never hurts to ask if this is not immediately evident online or in the catalog. Give customer service a call.
Beginner gardeners should always search for “Starter Kits”. These will typically have all the components and tools needed for getting started, usually with savings already built in.
When shopping online, you often get pop-ups or suggestions for additional items or companion plants. While these can sometimes be annoying, understand they are always created thoughtfully by the company to be a useful tool not just a bother. If you forget to order something, that can cost more in additional shipping charges in the long run.
Know the warranty
We never want or expect to have plants fail, but we know gardening can be full of surprises. Shipping plants in dark, humid boxes to far-off destinations can be wrought with peril for live plants. Find the warranty info on the company website or catalog just in case you need to make a claim.
Read, think, dream
One of the most important tips about reading gardening catalogs is to try not to get overwhelmed by all the options and information. Seed and plant catalogs are not meant to be read cover-to-cover like a mystery novel. Instead, consider plant descriptions as mere “Mental Morsels”.
Descriptions should be read, analyzed, and mulled over—the material is more “Gideons” than “Grisham.” Read, think, and then dream about what plants might be and how to best use them to create a successful, beautiful, and bountiful garden next year.
You can’t plant EVERYTHING, can you?
https://acreagelife.com/hobby-farming/how-to-read-seed-catalogs
https://seedvilleusa.com/collections/fruit-seeds
That is mainly for northerners.
I bought some seeds at Dollar Tree here in Florida earlier this week.
The local Walmart just got in its seeds.
Some people may be interested in this:
https://hsvbg.org/2017/07/27/native-azalea-propagation-methods-of-vernon-bush/
Birds peck at my tomatoes as soon as they turn red.
I’m going to try to hide the tomato plants with ripening tomatoes with kitchen trash bags this year.
Feb 1 my first seeds get planted.
It’ll be onions and lavender. It would be rosemary, too, but I have to wait until I find seeds locally. It’s not worth ordering them and paying shipping for just one item.
Due to the move, my garden will likely be nonexistent this year or very late. Abandoning my garden at the ‘old’ house is rather depressing ... I’ve put a lot of work into those raised beds & surrounding area over the last 10 years or so.
On the bright side, my cousin who lives near the new house told me about a nearby farm that has a market/store. They have 3 gardens for produce and also raise beef - you can get grass/grain fed (all pastured) or strictly grass fed. They also have fresh milk & cream from a local dairy, order seafood for Christmas, have eggnog & homemade baked goods. It’s a historical farm with an old mill as well & it’s only 8 minutes (3.9 miles) away from the house!
Yesterday, this same cousin also gave me the name of someone who can do snow removal. I called and talked to him & feel much better about our situation regarding the driveway being covered with snow/ice. The first part is uphill and shaded, plus a mostly northern exposure, so not much melting takes place early. Once the driveway turns at the top to the back of the house, it’s a southwest exposure & was mostly clear when we were there Thursday. If it snows (which it did yesterday), I can call him & see if he thinks the driveway needs snow removal - his advice yesterday was that ‘no’, it would be ok by next week.
There is a rock pile by the pole barn that I was looking at Sunday with yet another cousin (LOL! Family ... one of the main reasons we bought the house there) to potentially have it hauled away. Upon looking closer, there are some neat rocks in there, so we’re holding off on removing it for now until I can pull out what I want to use. The thought did occur that the rock pile would make a nice spot for Timber Rattlers to hang out ... I know they are in the mountains (have had experiences with them hiking & doing maintenance work on the AT) so I pulled up a map to check out their range. Oh yeah, our place is in TR range so we’ll have to be careful around places like that rock pile. Most of the property is grass, not many places to hide or for cover, but we’ll definitely have to keep an eye out.
It’s exciting to have a ‘new’ place and looking forward to the day when all the moving stuff is over & we can stay there instead of trips back/forth. We are getting movers for the ‘big’ stuff, but moving all the small stuff ourselves (china, pictures, etc.). The utility trailer is now road worthy with new tires, wiring, garage door springs to help me lower/raise the tailgate & some new wheel bearings. The PU is a shortbed so the 5 x 8 trailer (with at least 2 ft sides) will give us a lot more room for hauling. We not only have the house stuff, but also things in the barn & garage that need to go with us.
The new house has either 2 or 3 chestnut trees ... ‘sweet’ edible chestnuts, not the inedible ‘horse’ chestnuts. I looked up how to harvest & make use of them, so I’m looking forward to that new project in the fall. There are squirrels (really ‘wild’ ones, as opposed to the ones at our house now) so I’ll have to beat them to the chestnuts when they fall. :-)
Warmer weather (40’s-50’s) the middle of next week, so that should clear out the snow .... until the next storm!
Last week was another nasty one here in Central Missouri. More cold, snow, ice, etc. Freezing rain last night - still coming down - driveway is like a skating rink - it’s a good day to stay home.
Yesterday was just semi-terrible outside so I took advantage and fixed the water pipe that froze and broke out in the pasture last week. I didn’t bother to replace the busted valve - I just capped it off with a piece of PEX. When the weather warms up I’m going to remove what’s there now, replace it with a freeze-proof hydrant, and have one less thing to worry about during cold weather.
My excuse for not being active on the gardening thread is that I don’t do much gardening any more. This thread about catalogues has brought me out of my shell. We had a garden in the backyard until the trees got to tall and then I gardened in church yards (one at a time). But that eventually fizzled out.
On the farm when I was growing up, We got catalogues from Earl May, Henry Field, Gurneys? and Starks. Earl May and Gurneys had what was called a Conglomerate Package. Youngsters could put there penny in with your parents order and receive a envelope with a wide variety of vegetable and flower seeds, most of which were different than most people would not get. I got okra, caster beans,yard long beans, a large yellowish bean (seed), cushaw, (excellent for pumpkin pie - Mother best pie ever was a cushaw chiffon), cosmos, and other flowers.
Would be nice if there were something like that for our posterity.