Winter Reading: Seed Catalogues

I was listening to a podcast of Margaret Roach (awaytogarden.com) yesterday and she was talking about reading her seed catalogues in January and  making her seed orders for the spring. It got me thinking that I never receive seed catalogues anymore. I used to get tons of them, from Burpee, Park Seed, Harris Seeds,  Wayside Gardens, and White Flower Farm, but I guess when I stopped ordering seeds many years ago they stopped sending them. I still plant some things from seed--zinnias, cosmos, larkspur, alyssum--but I usually just pick up packets of seeds at the nursery.

But as I was listening to Margaret talk, I remembered how much I enjoyed getting those catalogues and all the information they contained and getting some ideas for planting. You can learn a lot about a plant from the descriptions written in the catalogue. I also like seeing the new varieties of some of the flowers I plant, especially my fav, zinnias. So... I got online and ordered copies of catalogues from several nurseries, including Burpee, White Flower Farm,  the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (highly recommended by MR), and Nichols Garden Nursery. Several of the catalogues are online only now.



Other catalogues that she mentioned are Fedco Seeds, Kartuz Greenhouses,  Renee's Garden,  and Logees. She also mentioned a website that sounded interesting for anyone growing begonias, Brad's Begonia World, and I will definitely be checking that one out.

So I am looking forward to reading my seed catalogues again and dreaming about my summer garden, hopefully in a comfy chair with a cup of tea and snow out the window.

Saving Seeds

A friend that I work with brought me some seeds yesterday from her garden. They are a variety of salvia that she particularly likes and are still blooming and she knew that I would like them too. I thought that was so nice of her and I will definitely save them and try them next spring. We started talking about what seeds we save, and I don't really save many. The only one I really "save" is larkspur--I have a lot of larkspur blooming in the spring and when they die back in the summer I just shake the dry seeds heads back into the garden as I am pulling them out, and they stay there all summer and winter and miraculously they come up again in the spring. I have never had to buy any new seeds. The key is knowing what the tiny seedlings look like, and I do now, so I am careful when I am cultivating in the spring. Sometimes I will save some zinnia seeds, but usually I just buy several packs of seeds and plant them directly into the garden.  The only others I plant from seed are cosmos and alyssum, both directly into the garden. So I am glad to have a new salvia to try. This is a little glimpse of what the plant looks like. My friend said the hummingbirds love them.

And speaking of zinnias, look at this new variety of zinnia I found--isn't it just about perfect? It is called Queen Red Lime Zinnia and I have found them in a couple of catalogues, Burpees, Park Seeds, Harris. I will definitely be trying these next year. They'll look great with my chartreuse "Envy" zinnias. 

Image via burpee.com