Foxy does bloom its first year from seed. If you've got good winter drainage it will survive to bloom again the next season. It may go for yet another season if it's deadheaded but it's extremely ratty and should either be divided or shovel-pruned.

Some hollyhocks behave in the same manner.

Thanks! Perhaps this should be treated as an annual to avoid rat-tails (ha- I made a funny), or is the year-2 bloom better do you think and it should at least be left for the 2 years?

You never know. Mine have varied year-to-year and plant-to-plant.

I usually do check Garden Watchdog for rating before ordering from new vendors. Some folks might have different experiences from the same vendor, but if many customers have problems with the same company, that tells me to avoid them.

Karen

Garden Watchdog is a good place for that information. A lot of people post their experiences with companies. You can see on some of them how a company suddenly goes unreliable - like one particular company that I'm never ordering from again even though I've been a customer since before 2000. (Grumble.)

The only consistent negative I see about T&M is complaints about germination - but I've never had any problems with their seeds growing. I think the fact that they carry such a broad range of seed, and that some do need cold stratification or frost protection can sometimes make some of their seed types challenging for inexperienced growers.

Kitazawa Seed company is one you don't hear of much and it is great for Asian vegetable, great seed and hefty seed packets. Fast shipping and good prices too.

Sandhill Preservation is great for some heirlooms. Just make sure you fill out the form right because it's a small business with busy people and at least on their website it sounds like they don't really care for people that tend to be impossible to please customers.

Hudson seed company is cool Neat range of seed, good sized seed packs, good seed and intersting company focus.

Johnny's Selected Seed is a nice honest company. Good seed. Good customer service. In their catalog if they recommend a vegetable or a tool they really mean it and you can be sure it's worth getting. Some of my favorite seeds and tools are ones I got based on what they said about it in the catalog and I've never been disappointed. This is the same company that answered my question "What types of evening primroses did you carry in your 1995 catalog" so that I could correctly identify so old seed I got in a trade. They answered that question in 2008 - a few hours after I sent them the e-mail. They always earn my repeat business.

Swallowtail Garden is a good company for getting well priced seed packs with a lot more seed than others offer. They are THE place to go if you want to grow a field of strawflowers.

Horizon Herb is good for their range of medicinal herbs and good info on the website. I've had great results with everything I've got from them.

Burpee catalog is nice for sitting in a chair, looking a the pictures and marveling at how much their seed prices have gone up. Park catalog is nice for sitting in a chair, looking at the pictures, being amazed at how few really new seed introductions they have this year, and marveling at how much their shipping prices have gone up. I do highlight stuff in their catalogs - but then I order it somewhere else. Now plant orders from Parks - my experience with them was good enough to stop me from ever being a customer of theirs again. Wrong amounts of stuff shipped, insufficient customer service effort, and then top it off with part of my order delayed without notification on their part for 6 months. Follow up calls from me getting more poor customer service and finally plants arriving here in zone 6 in NOVEMBER! What a fiasco.

They aren't on my "highly recommended" list.

But Gardenwatchdog can tell you all of this kind of stuff and more.

Lynda

Mary, I would expect to have it in the garden for a couple of years then chuck it.

Now I see why Park Seed charges so much for shipping. Back in Nov, I ordered 8 packs of seed. All but two were shipped. They just shipped one pack of seed to me today. One more left to ship. That'll be 3 shipping labels and probably boxes. When I placed the order, none of the items claimed they were out of stock. Of course, when they went to pull it, they didn't have everything. It's a really bad system they have going on. Still, I'm happy to finally be getting my lavender seeds. You can't have a cottage garden without lavender.

Hi All,

I ordered from Heirloom Acre Seeds on 12/5 and after 3 weeks called after not receiving. I was told the order was shipping in the next day or two. Well, I never got it. I called the other day and said to cancel b/c they still hadn't shipped it. I was charged for the order on 12/8. They said it was packed and ready to go that day? Oh well. They had a few things I really wanted. I'll keep looking.

Andrea

I was going to google park seed and accidentally typed Park Weed Co.

heehee!

I had problems with Burpee seed last year, side by side to Ferry Moore, Burpee had about 25% germination but the Ferry Morris had 95% germination.
I got a 50.00 certificate for xmas last year for Burpee, when I first went thru the catalog that totaled to 10 packets of seed! Wow 5.00 a pack?
For seeds I either open pollinate my own, trade on GW.

Ordering for hybrids I usually use Johnny's, Jung or T & M.
Bulk lb wildflower, ground cover seed I order from Outside Pride, tech support is great if you have a problem area.. I emailed them the site location, what I envisioned, how I wanted to sow and they prompting gave me the best choices.

Of course I cannot pass up a seed rack when out shopping, lol.

I have had issues with Parks plants. I don't bother with buying plants from the catalogs I get anymore. I have found that trading on GW and Ebay plants are larger and survive better.

I had a big problem with Burpee a few years back. Haven't used them since. I use to order seedlings from them (tomatoes and peppers mostly.) One year they sent them to me the second week in June and half the plants were dead! They did reimburse me. However, at the time, by the second week in June you couldn't find or order replacements from anyone.

Since then, I've started my own from seed. I don't order from Burpee anymore. I do still buy Burpee seeds off the rack though. Busylizzy reminded me though. I did a seed germination test of the "cheap" seeds (American Gardener?) to Burpee. I had better germination rates with the "cheap" seeds! Since then, If I can find it in the "cheap" seeds, I'll use them.

booberry85,
Are you the same booberry with the bears?
My hubby was just asking about you last night,will you be posting when they come out of hybrenation?
I sent you an e mail a few months ago,you must not have gotton it.
Carol

Carol,

That's not me. There are quite a few Beckys that Winter Sow. I know there is a Booboobearbecky too. DH & I did see a bear in the fall of 2007, not far from our house. No pictures though.

Thanks Becky,
Have you ever read her story about how she raised 4 baby cubs out in the wild?Truly amazing? The babies are in hybranation right now,any way, i think they still are.
She has the most amazing way of writting also.
Carol

In my experience, Park Seed is very unreliable. I have had bad germination rates with the seeds I have gotten from them. Plus my experience with their live plant stock is not too good either.

On a good note, Baker Creek Heirloom Seed is the absolute best seed company to order from! The prices are very reasonable, you get a lot of seed for those prices, the shipping is a flat rate of $3(as of today anyway) and you get it quickly.

Thompson & Morgan is another good one. Good prices, decent shipping rates, reasonable delivery time.

I wont pay the prices Burpee wants. I really really want Valentine Dianthus, which I can only find in Burpees, or in HUGE greenhouse size packs at Stokes. I figured out to just order one small pack of Valentine Dianthhus from Burpee would cost me $12!! for one little seed pack. They can keep them! I can get the greenhouse size industrial pack for $`15 from Stokes.

I have never ordered from Fedco beefore, but intend to this year. Most seed packs are right around $1, and if you spend $30, shipping is free.

I ordered from heirloomseeds.com They packets are rather small, but they do list the seed count on the website. They are SLOW tho, expect at least 1 month, but your seeds DO get here eventually, LOL.

Ordered from Value Seeds and T&M, but orders havent got here yet, so no comment on those yet.

I've had multiple germination problems with T&M seeds, and I'm not a novice!

Michigan Bulb is back in business, bought by the GardensAlive people, I heard. Why buy a company with a reputation that is absolutely ROCK BOTTOM???

Pinetree Garden Seeds is great! Most of their seed packets are around a dollar, almost all below $2. Some of their packets contain fewer seeds, but how many zucchini do you need? They're great for trying new varieties.

Seymour's Selected Seeds: PASS!

Sue

I haven't counted in a while but in the last 3 years have bought from 25 different sources or more. Overall I've had good results.
Those who I won't buy from again are Reimer's. Poor germination and also several wrong types of peppers and tomatoes.
Sandhill is one I will only order from if I can't find it somewhere else. Three orders and not a complete one yet. The trouble is I waited every time till they had udated their site for the new year and would check to make sure everything I wanted was in stock. I would then place my order. In one case it was over 5 weeks before I received it. Then it was almost too late to find what I wanted so had to change my garden plans. And did receive one voucher and another time two substitutions but never no money returned. I do my research and plan my garden early and would recommend ordering a year in advance if you are ordering from them.
The rest have all been ok as far as I remember. A few crossed seeds here and there. Baker Creek, Skyfire Seeds, Amishland, Victory, Tomato Growers Suppy, Totally Tomatoes, Blue Ribbon Seeds and Burpee are all ones I order from regularly with good results. JD

I placed an order with Value seeds 1-8-09,i have not received them as of today,i sent them an e mail,( today ) as there is no phone number,
I will keep you posted.
Carol

Hi Carol, I ordered from Value Seeds for the first time. I placed my order on 12-28-08 and it arrived on 01-17-09. Your order should be there soon.

Nancy

FWIW, valueseeds is notoriously slow. My orders take consistently 2 weeks to arrive.

more on value seeds -
I assume responsibility cuz I did not read carefully when I place my order: I ASSUMED that there would be many seeds in each env, as there usually are so many, and then I would have many to share with my friend as well as for the swap.

so I was disappointed when I received them and I had literally enough for ONE container.

I am not suggesting they did anything wrong, as probably it says on the order- how many seeds you get or what the weight is, but just to alert you not to be disappointed.

I accidentily erased my e-mail order from value seeds so when they came today it seemed they came quickly. Have no idea if it was one week or two. The order was complete.

And yes, they do state on the web page how many seeds are in each order. Some of the rarer seed packs will have very few seeds. There can be an error in quantity for various reasons. If so, e-mail them and they should make good on the order.

I recently ordered from Parks for the first time on Jan 1st. They charged my account for the order on Jan 5 AND Jan 6 - yes, TWICE without any notification that the seeds had shipped.

I called the customer service number and was told that I must be mistaken. After assuring the cs rep that I was not mistaken, she said she'd leave a note for the refund rep and it would be take care of. Not so, yesterday I had to make a second call and this time I guess I got a better customer service rep who could see that I had been charged twice. Still waiting to see if I get the refund in a timely manner. Oh and after paying so much for shipping it took almost three weeks for the seeds to arrive.

I'm not sure if I'll order from them again - their prices are high and you'd think with the high shipping costs, you'd get your order a bit more quickly!

I found the date I ordered from Value Seeds, took one week. That is quick for them.

Out of curiosity I opened each pack and counted the number of seeds. The cucumber seeds said 4 and only had 4 seeds. All others had 5 or more seeds than the average number listed on the pack.

I placed an order from Parks seeds for several packets of seeds, one of which was irisine purple lady.

I got the order a few weeks later! The irisine was advertised on the website as having 100 seeds. The package contained 10 seeds and was clearly marked that that's what should have been in there.

I called and complained about getting ten seeds when it was advertised as 100 seeds and another package was sent, it took over two weeks to get here.

Again, 10 seeds! That's a total of 20 seeds! I called again and was told that it was an advertising error and pretty much tough #$%^! Thanks for your business.

As of this morning the web page still states 100 seeds per packet!

I suppose that I should be grateful that they sent a second package but damn, change the website to reflect the correct amount being paid for.

Parks and Burpee are for me only if I am desperate to have that particular seed. There are only few of Burpee intro plants that nobody else carries...
I used to do lot more ordering overseas but after all those permit paperwork required do not do as much. Still I was very pleasantly surprised when seeds from Plant World seeds came- their packaging assures you that everything will be great and and seeds do get delivered with or without proper paperwork. Their choices are stunning, so much of rare or new seeds that it is well worth ordering.
My perennial favorites are Gardens North- excellent rare, native, woodland choices, excellent germination rates- it is one company I know that will send their seeds moist packaged to preserve viability.
Hardyplants.com have extensive range of seeds and I always had great germination with them, I will be ordering from them for year to come.
JL Hudson, seedsman is another very reliable and quirky place to get rare seeds and GA-3, great prices and germination rates. I think they are only company that sells pretreated Datura seeds as some of them very tough to germinate.
For annuals I like Swallowtail perennials and Summer Hill seeds- good choices, germination rates, varieties, customer service.
For regular cottage garden look nothing beats those racks in box stores- usually it is discounted enough not to be steep and most of those seed varieties are easy to germinate with great results.
I like T&M but only when they on 50% clearance sale or from Valueseeds, some of their germination were iffy for me over the years but recent couple of years it significantly improved, only rare package will be total dud,of course you have to check amount of seeds as they notorious for packaging 3-5 8 seeds per package...
For primroses I discovered new for me place in France- Barnhaven primroses- got nice seed packets, excellent germination and varieties are stunning...that Wayside primroses You and Me advertised as something new and rare are indeed old plants hose in hose which have been in exsistence for while... of course T&M sells them $5 for 12 seeds....got about 100 seeds for same price at Barnhaven... and they germinated dreamily too...
And most of all -remember places as NARGS- North American Rock Garden Society with it annual seed exchange, you can check out current list on website to see what you can get- well worthy cause to participate. And if you attracted to certain particular group of plants there is society with
that name- Lily society, Primrose society, etc...- there are plenty of seed exchanges there and possibilities to make friends...

I like Diane's for my veggies, particularly heirloom tomato varieties. and swallowtail for perrenials. I am pretty sure both are in Dave's top thirty list.