a wonderful seed source

They include all kinds of hard to find seeds which I will winter sow:
Welsh poppy, meconopsis blue poppy, 3 kinds of veronica, 2 or 3 kinds of penstemon, and three kinds of phystogia. I sent to New Zealand for their great strains of delphiniums too. T&M charge far too much for them. This is www.hardyplants.com

These seed people pride themselves on the out-of-the-ordinary. I planted their special Japanese iris seeds in March, but I still got three. I will put them out again this winter, and I am positive I will get many more.

Most of their seeds are about $2.65 and under, down to $.99. Postage is reasonable too.

Have you ordered from them lately????

Yes, four or five times this fall because I am moving and will need to wintersow dozens of new plants. They arrive promptly. They have also added a sell by date to each package which helps a lot.

One thing I like is they often offer individual colors for plants like Charters Double Hollyhocks and Pacific Giants Delphinium and Magic Fountains Delphiniums. In others like perennial asters, they offer many different varieties as well as colors.

Have you ever ordered from JL Hudson (not the dept. store, btw)? He's got quite a variety!

I've ordered from him, definitely great quality seeds. I've gotten much better germination rates from the seeds I get from him than from anyone else.

Really... I've certainly spent enough time looking through his offereings....hmmm....

I guess I should add that what I typically order are tropical tree/shrub seeds that are generally trickier to germinate. With standard annuals/perennials that are easier to germinate in the first place, you might not notice that his seeds germinate any better than other reputable seed companies, but they certainly won't be worse quality.

OH NO!! I use this site to keep me away from EBay, and it seems my addiction follows me everywhere! Lol. My husband will kill me when he sees I am buying MORE seeds. Well, it is his own fault for building me a greenhouse and a seedling room! BTW, does anyone one have any suggestions on how I can organize my hundreds of seed envelopes?

8.5" x 6" manila envelopes with sharpie names on the front:
Campanula, Foxglove, Shastas, etc. Then a couple that take the others which slip between the cracks as far a categorization goes.

I have them in Ziploc bags right now, is that bad? They are in my little 'seed refrigerator'. I have labeled the front of them, but what I was thinking about doing, is using those baseball card protector pages and putting an individual package in each pocket. I just seen that on Google last night.

I'm thinking about organizing my seeds by when they should be planted.... I always seem to miss the dates.

Yeah, I might do that too. It's just so confusing! I have tropicals, trees, shrubs, vines, annuals, vegetables.......I might do it that way instead....

*Big* pile for spring, lol!

If I can wait that long! Lol! Is it OK to start something from seed indoors if it takes years to reach maturity? Like amaryllis, if you start it from seed, it takes four years to bloom, and it can't survive winters in this zone. And house plants, I have seeds for some of those too, I can start them whenever, right?

Last fall when I finally moved to the country with lots of space I literally ordered hundreds of packets of seed.

I got my fall cutting garden in and then messed up the discs in my neck and back. Today I sit with hundreds of packets of seed. Do I give them away? No mam as I am planning this spring to put in lots of long rectangular built up beds for cutting flowers so I don't have to work on the ground anymore.

I must have ordered from at least 10 companies but my favorite flowers came from the lady who used to have Shepherd's Seeds from White Flower Farm........oh......I just remembered her name. www.reneesseeds.com

Wow, does she have heirloom quality seeds! I found it even easy to germinate Bells of Ireland which we can't do this far south. Her seeds and plants were the best and I will continue to order seeds from her for my new cutting garden.

This site is not where I ordered my seeds although the name is right???

I think this is probably the one you meant http://www.reneesgarden.com/

Another place for me to spend money *sigh* Lol!!

On another site there were complaints about www.hardyplants.com which were serious. Also if one scrolls down, there are plenty of positive responses too. I believe that the father is getting weaker, and the son is having organizational problems.

Don't try to add to or change your order. Order on line and pay with a credit card. Be patient, generally they will come.
The company is honest but they need a couple more employees, I believe. I have ordered several times this fall, and they have come promptly enough, sometimes within 6 days, but not always. Thanks to them, I have a huge collection of unusual plants to put into my pond garden. In addition, they have included extras in almost every case. Many times they are along the lines of what I have requested in that order. Don't order a huge order the first time when you try them out.

This year in June I ordered $16.00 worth of seeds from hardyplants.com. They promptly took my money from my bank card but never sent my seeds. I called them and they said they didn't have the order. I had ordered over the internet. I couldn't fax them the order cause I lost it. Finally, I got tired of waiting so I went to the Better Business Bureau of MN and I did receive my seeds with extras. Anyone having trouble should contact the BBB.

Thanks, ecrane. I don't want to lose her site as her old fashioned cutting flowers are a must in any garden!

My experience with hardyplants.com was all right. They were slow but the order was received in full. The prices were find and the quantities were not shy. If I recall, I ordered 10 - 15 different types of seed. It was in the early spring ~ 2007.

I have had very good experiences with hardyplants.com. I've ordered from them many times over the past few years, usually a hefty amount each time. Last time I ordered was this summer. They have good seeds. The worst that has ever happened is that they sent me duplicates and some things I didn't order not marked as extras. I go over to their site periodically and cruise around to see what they have that's new. They seem to be increasing the selection quite a bit. I think this is a good company.

I think I have ordered about $100 worth of seed this fall for winter sowing when I move. I found almost every thing I needed for my pond and plants for beds. When I think of all the rare plants I will have (literally thousands,) I am just thrilled. They have always shipped what I ordered and have given good service. Germination is good too. The prices are great.

Perennial seeds - should you direct sow them outdoors in the fall or start them indoors? Is it easier on the seedlings to get a head start inside or adjust slowly to outside temps?

Portia, I have started them inside for years and had good results. However, for two years I have done winter sowing; and the results have been wonderful. The seedlings sprout earlier than normal and can be directly placed into the garden. I am speaking of Winter Sowing, not Direct Sowing.
I always had problems with poppies, but I have some nice seedlings left from this past winter even with our blistering heat and drought. I certainly would not give one up for the other, but I would use them both. Google wintersowing and look on the Winter Sowing forum here at DG's.

portiaraylee, I grow a lot of perennials and use Norm Deno's "Outdoor Treatment." This is the baggie method but putting them outside in a shed or unheated garage for cold stratification instead of putting them in the refrigerator. It works much better. You can put all your seed babies in one small box and check them quickly and easily for germination in the spring. I have had the best results with this method.

Yes, I love Specialty Perennials/Hardy Plants, too. Have ordered from them three or four times and just placed another order for hard-to-find butterfly host plants on Tuesday.

Right now they are having a 20% off sale until January 1. Just enter '2007' into the box at check out. (Read the instructions at the bottom of each catalog page for details).

It seems like they are 'jazzing' up there website with more photos and additional offerings...I just hope they can maintain an organized effort and continue focussing on customer service. A great resource, I would say, and I have never had a problem and I've received some really interesting seed packet 'bonuses', too.

Yes, I think it's a 'mom and pop' operation and there are some glitches from time to time according to Watchdog, but the range of inventory is phenomenol and the prices are fair.

I used to love them too till this last time........................