Stover Seed Company

What the company bills as a "one-pound" package of California Poppy seeds is in fact only 25% seeds. The remainder is walnut hulls. I actually purchased this in a store, not by mail order. I reached out to the company by email and suggested that the "one-pound" was potentially misleading (I'm fairly careful about what I purchase, and I for one, in fact, felt misled). The company responded to my email but said I had no recourse but to go to the retailer--with no acknowledgment of the point I'd taken the time to alert them to. The experience left a bad taste in my mouth, and I would not recommend patronizing the company.

Lake Elsinore, Ca here. I planted 30 seeds from a 500 mg Heirloom tomato mix. The mix suggested at least 7 different well known tomatos. Black, white, purple, pink, stripes, etc. I had a 98% germination rate. Setting out the plants I was going by leaf shape, trying to get the best diversity out of my room for 13 plants... as I planted the last.. it was windy and I noticed the back of the leaves... so many different shades of purple, green and mixed. I really got my moneys worth, it was far more diversified than I thought, and the pack is good for 2 years. Now to find homes for the rest of the plants.

These are off the rack seeds. I haven't dealt directly with the company. I love the clear plastic package. You can see how many seeds you are getting, and amounts are very generous. I get tired of opening the paper packets from national companies only to find a scant 6-12 seeds. Spinach 100% germination. Ace tomato 100% germination. Hales Best Jumbo cantalope 85% germination (but later batch, not on heat mat. Seeds on heat mat 100% germination) Tomato and cantalope germinated on a heat mat, spinach in a planter outside (spinach likes cool temperatures). Lots of good information on the seed packet. I'll buy their seeds again.

Like the previous reviewer, I too bought my Stover seeds at my local Home Depot. I have sown both their California Native wildflower mixture and their western wildflower mix which includes nonnative species. I followed sowing instructions carefully. In my western wildflower mix packet I got good germination rates overall. They did well in my dry california climate and a large percentage of the mix turned out to be california poppies. Other species included bachelors buttons, clarkias, scarlet flax and baby blue eyes. Drought tolerant, pretty, and the bees loved it. The california native mixture germinated poorly by comparison, with the exception of the numerous california poppies once again. I would have had no lupines at all, except that I took special care to sort out, soak and plant the larger lupine seeds even though the instructions didn't mention this. I happen to know this because I have planted lots of peas and pea relatives like lupines over the years. The only lupine listed on the package was golden Lupine, but what came up was definitely NOT Golden Lupine. I still haven't identified it, but it is puny and disappointing with mauve/white flowers that do nothing to enhance or add beauty. Anyway, the other species that were listed on the packet (blue flax, white yarrow, clarkia, tidy tips, five spot, gilia tricolor, etc) did not germinate at all. I ended up with a native garden composed of only california poppies, a few 9 inch tall unidentified lupines, and one baby blue eyes. Sad. If you buy any kind of wildflower mix from this company, be aware that they apparently use lots of cheap and abundant california poppy seeds as the bulk of their packet.

I have bought Stover seeds at Home Depot, I like that they come in a 1/4 an ounce size. Price is right too only 3.97 for thousands of wildflower seeds.