Comments regarding Johnny's Selected Seeds

This was my first year ordering from Johnny's Select Seeds. So far everything I have planted is growing nicely. We had to place a $200 order to get free shipping! Which seemed like a lot, but once you buy, they send you coupon codes so you can get a deal on your next order. We've already planted our spring wheat and field peas. Looking forward to see everything grow!

Every time I've purchased from them I've been so happy with what I get. High germination rates, even if I leave the packet for a couple of years! I've done vegetables and flowers and never had a complaint to make about them.

I garden for family and friends. I have ordered from Johnny's for years and have been pleasantly satisfied with the quality of seeds, service, and information.

The majority of my garden seeds have been ordered from Johnny’s for the past two years. Delivery is prompt and germination rates high. The plants have almost all been productive. I also appreciate the growing information on their website, their webinars, and the chat function for gardening questions. The quality of my garden and my enjoyment of it has greatly increased over time, many thanks to Johnny’s.

Ordered corn seeds. Late.....lots of varieties were out of stock. Both here and on other places. Found some to order. Received order in a few days. Now we will see about germination. So far so good.

Their seeds consistently germinate very well, often near 100%. Even their columbine germinate at close to 100% without any need for stratification and even continued to do so when I planted the leftover seed a year later. (Competitor's columbine germinated at less than 50% even with stratification and when fresh.) The germination and growing instructions found on their website (especially the production tech sheets) are extremely useful and accurate. I reliably get excellent results. They have great prices on larger quantities of seed while still offering smaller quantities at more typical prices. I do wish they had a larger selection of flowers that make good garden plants even if they are not suitable as cut flowers. All of the tools and supplies I have purchased from them have been excellent. Shipping is ridiculously fast. The COVID gardening craze was a challenge for the entire industry, and I appreciated the way Johnny's handled it. Their customer service is always flawless. Johnny's has become my absolute favorite seed source by a mile!

Have ordered from Johnnys for years and have always been satisfied. Great germination, good customer service, and they are employee-owned.

This season, like last season, they are dealing with a huge surge of pandemic orders and have shut down non-commercial orders. This is annoying (I'm a backyard gardener), but I understand that they are stretched thin! And I'm glad more people are getting into the garden.....

For 2 years in a row, I've ordered the Anne Raspberries from Johnny's. These plants arrive and put every other root to shame! The roots on them are so massive and amazing that I need to put most in 2 and 3 gallon pots unless I trim the roots. So far, I haven't ordered much from Johnny's except the Anne raspberries and ginseng seeds. The ginseng seeds didn't grow for me at their advertised 70% germination rate, closer to 10%, but that could be user error. I will order black raspberries next year and more ginseng seed this fall.

If I could give a higher rating than 'positive' for Johnnys, I would. In my experience, their seed has exceptional germination rates (and germination rates and test dates for each seed lot are printed on the seed packet), and even better, the crops perform as expected based on the seed catalog. I sincerely wish there were more companies that pay such attention to detail.

I have purchased and grown all possible 'normal' veggie crops over the years from seed and increasingly find myself ordering exclusively from Johnnys. Other companies I have grown seed from include Pinetree, Baker Creek, Burpee, Irish Eyes, Jung, Park, Territorial, and a few oddball others. By now I don't think there is any seed of a normal crop I have not grown from Johnnys and exceptions are things like asparagus that are not normally grown from seed. I admit that I spend >$500 on veggie seeds each year, but I grow all the vegetables my husband and I (and chickens) eat year round in a fairly difficult climate in the snowy eastern WA Cascades. We are >1 hour from a grocery store in summer and in winter it becomes a more difficult trip. Also my garden space is limited to <1000 ft sq (on a mountainside - thankfully south-facing) and it is excruciating to find a variety or company that does not perform well, especially from August to May, when it is too late to start another crop. With Johnnys my success rate is high and we eat scrumptiously year round. Our fresh crops are as good (cauliflower, beets) or much better (carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, and broccoli) than any farmers market or grocery store crops. Without Johnnys I feel I would have given up on winter gardening, and difficult summer crops like melons. With Johnnys, we eat excellent year round - fresh mache, carrots, beets, broccoli, leeks, cabbage, brussel sprouts, chard, onion, kale in fall-winter-spring. And all those crops plus normal summer veggies in summer (cucumbers, melons, tomatoes, beans, eggplant, potatoes, corn).

I have grown seeds of the same variety but from other companies alongside Johnny's, planted on the exact same date and Johnnys outperforms so consistently that I am now pretty much ordering all veggie seeds from Johnnys. This has happened for carrot, rutabaga, eggplant, cabbage, parsnip, and possibly other crops I can't think of right now. I see comments where people complain about the price of a seed packet at Johnnys. My two thoughts are (1) you pay for what you get, and Johnnys puts effort into their products and catalog (and paying quality employees costs money), and (2) sometimes if you order in the next highest quantity than a 'packet' the prices are more competitive (for example check the prices by the ounce, or by the thousand and then save any extra seed for next year). Cheaper prices for high quantities helps market gardeners more than home gardeners, but the quality of the Johnnys seed in my experience makes it worthwhile for me as a home gardener. This is especially true given I don't have the space or time (with a short growing season) to make an error.

Perhaps I also have success with Johnnys because I read the seed catalog closely and make notes. I feel Johnny's catalog is relatively fair and they state pros and cons of their varieties more honestly than other seed catalogs. I get annoyed sometimes when other companies gush with praise for all their varieties, leaving a sensible customer wondering what they are omitting. I also will try a couple varieties for one crop until I find something that performs well in my garden.

Most of my comments pertain to veggie seeds. I only started growing Johnnys flower seeds this year. So far I've been happy with the flowers, but I have much less experience with flower seed starting than veggie seed starting, which I've been doing for 20 years.

For now, Johnnys will continue to be my number one top pick for veggie seeds, without hesitation over the price. I'm grateful that they are so reliable. I'd rather order once and get seeds that perform well than do a trail-and-error with other seed companies, only to find out too late (sometimes on the dinner table!) that my veggies are tough or woody or didn't germinate or any number of other problems. My only fear is that at some point Johnnys may change hands and the quality will go down. I hope that does not happen in my lifetime. I am willing to pay a higher price for honestly described seed that performs to the specs in the seed catalog.

One last comment - I discovered Garden Watchdog only in the last year. Since then, I have benefited greatly from the reviewer comments for other companies. In the case of Johnny's I feel there is an exception. I'm very glad I was ordering from Johnnys before I read their reviews on Garden Watchdog. In my experience, the reviews on Garden Watchdog underestimate the value of this company.

Bought seeds for my vegetable garden here. Shipping was fast, and my tomato, celeriac, and pepper starts turned out amazing, hopefully the trend continues.

To anyone looking for a good company to buy your seeds and potatoes and strawberries from, I recommend Johnny's Seeds. This was the first year I've bought from this company, and I am thoroughly impressed. I purchased a little over $500 worth of product, and I've never been more impressed. For starters, I don't think I've ever had beans produce as much as the ones I bought from there. While zucchinis are big producers, the ones that grew this year seemed to go beyond any other years. I've never had as beautiful pumpkins in the field as the ones that grew from the Johnny's Seeds company. The seed potatoes I bought have by far out produced any that I've grown before. The strawberries I accidentally let fruit this year were some of the best I've ever had.

I had quite a few extra seeds that I didn't have time for between work and a foot injury, so I passed on some to a family friend. They had almost the exact same results as I had. Their corn came in something perfect, the melons just keep on coming in, and all the plants are huge and beautiful.

This year has been a pretty good drought in our area, and Johnny's Seeds has out performed many other seed companies in my eyes. As I continue to work on growing my farm and expanding my sales, I'll definitely be continuing to use Johnny's Seeds. If my next growing season goes as fantastic as this one has, I'll be a sure fire customer for life.

This review is strictly on shipping. I ordered onion seeds last week and won't be starting them until end of January. Super fast shipping! I placed my order Friday morning and had the seeds Monday morning. The only complaint I have is the company they shipped with you have to be a paid member to track your package.

I've ordered from Johnny's Selected Seeds for the last two years. The service has always been wonderful. Shipments arrive quickly and well packed. I had excellent germination rates on all of the 30+ vegetable and herb varieties I've ordered from the company. They sell both organic seed and non-organic seed; I've only ordered organic and have been very pleased. They also carry an amazing array of very high quality tools and equipment. The only con to this company is that the prices are quite high but you do get top of the line equipment and seed for the price.

I've ordered many seeds from many internet companies. Johnny's is my new favorite even though I do recognize that their prices seem steep. For me, I appreciate the nice internet interface, the seeds for me have always sprouted better than the germination rate stated on the package, and I appreciate they are employee owned because I feel they care more. My deliveries have always been within 5 days with good messaging that is not always the case with other companies I've dealt with - with few exceptions, they are top 3 fastest delivery for seeds I've experienced so far.

What put me over was my Perilla and Saltwort seeds. Both types of seeds sprout very easily if fresh and many people say Perilla for example is invasive where they live, etc. but Perilla ALSO happens to be one of the most difficult seeds to sprout if the seeds are older than say a month and/or stored badly and most often requires cold strat techniques. A search on the internet will show some people feel it's impossible and some think it's invasive and easy to sprout. My experience, I ordered from 2 different internet Asian seed companies and did not have much luck sprouting them save for 2 plants out of 2 seed packets with more than 100 seeds in each packet. These seeds, I would separate into 1/4 portions and put the first 1/4 directly, second 1/4 in the fridge for 2 weeks, third 1/4 in the freezer, and fourth 1/4 I would save for one year later because when they are really old, they are supposed to have better germination, etc. Saltwort, or Okahijiki, is similar in that older seeds can have trouble germinating. After my previous 2 experiences with seeds from 2 different companies, I didn't expect either to spout and emptied half packets into dirt in 20 gallon containers, and forgot about them. Short of it, less than a week later, both sprouted far beyond the germination rate stated on the packet. What took me 2 months of trying to sprout from other companies with only 2 plants to show for it for my troubles, Johnny's seeds sprouted far beyond the germination rate stated on the package in less than a week. Also had great tasting Sungolds when I bought from Johnny's years ago but I bought from a different company this year and the results were so poor I doubt they were genuine Sungold seeds. I learned my lesson.

The cons I have are, I wish they had more varieties of seeds and wish they sold more live plants, cause I wish I could order more from them. Also as I've said, their prices seem a ~$1 steeper a packet than a lot of companies. Still, FOR ME, I appreciate the pros of this company far more than the cons. If I can find the seeds I want from Johnny's, I will buy it there - always get them on time, and always sprout and perform well for me.

I've ordered seeds and germination equipment from Johnny's Selected Seeds this year. I've had a great experience with the company and excellent germination rates. When they ran out of organic clover for my large order 650 lbs) they tracked down additional seed and had it shipped directly from the grower. I'll definitely be ordering again.

First-time customer, but I'll be back. Shipped very quickly (received order a few days after ordering from halfway across the country), with tracking number, professionally packaged. They've got it together.

I have had good experiences with Johnny's. I use their green manure mixes every fall and spring. Also like their lettuce mixes
Good germination for me

I ordered a variety of cut flower varieties from Johnny's Seed in early 2016. I had excellent germination rates, good results from the cultivars offered and I had a problem with my credit card (address mismatch due to moving) and the rep called me back and helped me sort it out. I experienced excellent service and product quality so I've ordered much more for 2017.

we have been organic farmers since 1988, and have tried a lot of seeds, and our experience with Johnny's has been superlative. At this point, we've pretty much eliminated all seed competition, and get our farm seed from Johnny's. The prices are very good, we know the sources, and can prove with their paperwork that we are using organic seed.

We had a fire and I lost ALL of my 5 year collection of vegetable and flower seeds. Late last night, I put in an order of $204 worth of seeds I needed. I paid $20 ish for overnight shipping because I'm under pressure to get the last items into the ground. TODAY, about 14 hours later, I got all but 2 of the seed packets! I've ordered from Johnny's for probably 10 years, but TODAY they actually made me get teary! Thank you Johnny's! You have a customer for LIFE!

I have been ordering seeds and supplies from Johnnies for over 30 yrs ! Everything arrives on time and never had to use the service dept . Their catalog is beautiful , many choices and well put together. I would give this company a rating of above excellent !!!

Johnny's is GREAT! Their products are superior, and they only carry the BEST varieties. The staff is very helpful.

I am a market farmer, and this is my first year with Johnny's. Until now I have sourced seeds from many places, but from now on Johnny's will be my main supplier.
I love their philosophy and their dedication to serving organic and naturally grown market farmers.

Johnny's prices may seem high, but for farmer's like me they who buy large quantities of seeds the prices are not bad at all. The more you get the more you save!

I have been an annual Johnny's customer since 1985. Their offerings and service has been superb in that time. In recent years I have become more concerned about the company's direction, however. Prices are skyrocketing while I'm certain seed pack contents are diminishing. Every business has a right and duty to grow but it seems the company is losing sight of the backyard gardener. When gardening costs grow to where budgeting for it becomes necessary I have to wonder whether it is worth it anymore. Last year my Johnny's order was nearly $300. The order was inflated to take advantage of free shipping offer with enough seed to carry me at least two years. Having to think about gardening this way removes the fun and makes it more like a business even in my own yard. After 40 years of gardening I can see my relationship with Johnny's and gardening coming to an end.

I like Johnny's. They ship quickly, their prices on seeds aren't ridiculous, and they make problems right immediately. With the Shiraz snow peas, they gave everyone their money back without any drama llamas running through the garden.

Their shipping is a little pricey, but they do occasionally have shipping promotions.

Overall, a solid reliable source.

Another great experience with Johnny's. The shipping was lightning fast, seed packs were well protected. Of 16 different flower varieties I'm getting in excessive of 85% germination on all but the Larkspur. But, it's only been 4 days on the Larkspur and these can take a bit longer to germinate and sprout. Thanks to everyone at Johnny's for your hard work and great seeds! It makes my job so much easier and enjoyable.

Have ordered from Johnny's for several years and have never been disappointed. Quality seeds, reliable, fast shipping.

Bought several packets of seeds, and all (except the cucumbers and kale... haven't started those yet) are making plants. Even with suboptimal germination conditions, these seeds are sprouting at close to the rates specified on the packets. Will be buying more seeds from Johnny's soon!

I ordered packets of 'Marvel of Venice' and 'Fortex' bean seeds from Johnny's and have no-o complaints. The seeds even arrived much sooner than I anticipated. ..No problem. :) ...I'm sure I will be ordering from them again in the future.

Whenever I think about vegetable gardening, Johnny's Seeds come to mind. I have not been disappointed with their seeds yet over the years I have ordered from them.

Second year ordering from this company. Super quick shipping, well packaged. No surprises.

Catalog is easy to read and find what you need.

Last year's seeds germinated and grew as described.

Would (and will) order from them again every year.

Posted on July 22, 2010, updated March 7, 2013
Posted on April 12, 2010, updated July 22, 2010
Posted on March 17, 2009, updated April 12, 2010
I have been ordering from Johnny's for several years and have been very impressed with their seeds and service. My order this year was filled within 8 days (all the way from Maine!) with no missing packets. I also like their selection, and have had good germination with their seeds.

Top Quality products. Excellent customer service. Prompt delivery. What more could a guy want? Well, I had questions about germinating Stevia seed as I had problems [actually 100% failures] in the past. I asked about this when I placed my order. A nice lady contacted me by phone and explained step-by-step how to properly germinate and grow Stevia. She obviously knew what she was talking about.

Service was excellent. Their seed varieties generally seem to be aimed more at farmers/ market gardeners than home gardeners (though their lettuce section is an exception and worthy of drooling over, and the tomatoes aren't bad). But they have a nice selection of organic garden products, and their seed descriptions are refreshingly free of the hype I see in many catalogs. And wonder of wonders, the seed packets I ordered were all in stock and sent promptly.

This was my 4th year ordering seeds from Johnny's. I placed my order last Tuesday and had my seeds by Saturday. Everything has had good germination rates on my past orders and their selection is hard to beat.

Just received my third order from Johnny's. Surprised me because I was expecting them to hold my order until the one item that was backordered came in, but just got everything else yesterday. I placed the order four days ago. That's speedy service in my book.

This has been true of every order I have placed with them. The one time I had cause to contact their customer service, the lady was polite, helpful, and corrected my problem in a few minutes.

I continue to order from Johnny's, not just because of their service, but their excellent selection, and (the greatest, in my book) I can order anywhere from a small packet to several pounds of anything in their catalog! I love that!

I have ordered from Johnny's Selected Seeds for many, many years. The customer service is stellar, and they consistently send a superior quality of seed, with excellent germination rates. If anyone orders from Johnny's and for any reason is not satisfied with their purchase, they should contact Johnny's customer service staff who I have found to be very helpful and will give 100 % effort to correct any problem

Ordered onion plants and potatoes from these people. They were shipped separately at the correct times for planting here in Pa. Will definately order from Johnnie's again.

So far, no problems. I got a catalog from a master gardener talk at a local garden. Seems like some of the seeds are pretty pricey. However, I'm used to buying seeds from Walmart or plants from big chain stored and I have mixed luck with them. We placed our first order this weekend and have the seeds in hand already. There were much better prices on some of their sale and internet tabs.
So, c'mon... bush beans... 1000 seeds for $3 with a 80% germination rate. How can you say no?
For the first time, I'm trying early and late season plants as well as a summer garden so I'll update this when I get some growth.

I think it’s probably just human nature that we tend to post comments about vendors when we have a problem with them. I certainly have done so here in the past. But when I put together my list of recommended seed suppliers for a Senior Gardening posting this year, I realized that I should make a positive comment here about each of our suppliers that have performed so well over the years.

We’ve used Johnny’s Selected Seeds as one of our two or three main garden seed suppliers for over twenty years. They provide good to exceptional quality seed (in terms of germination) in a time when other suppliers appear to be cutting corners on seed quality.

When we’ve had a question about an order or variety, Johnny’s customer service has responded promptly. I especially like some of their Growers Library and Interactive Tools (fall planting calculator, etc.).

While I’m concerned about some of their recent price increases, I find that I’m willing to pay a bit more for seed from them that I can trust.

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