I can't comment on Annie's, but I quit buying anything except supplies from Johnny's because their seeds are so expensive compared to most other places. The Fragrant Path (www.fragrantpathseeds.com) has N. sylvestris and purple millet for $1.50 each. The minimum order is $5 and shipping is only $1 no matter how much you order. You could have bought a couple of extra items and still paid less than you did at Johnny's. :-(

I purchased seeds from The Fragrant Path and although you can't place your order online, I still got my order faster than I have from a bunch of other seed companies and they were very friendly. Plus you get extra seeds and pretty postcards with your order. :-)

Figures - I'd checked the places I order seeds from most frequently, and Johnny's was the only one where I'd found both!

Irene, I feel that way about most of the seed and plant catalogs that I receive and even more so about most of the websites that I have browsed. There are still a few out there with really good deals and often the more you buy the more discount you'll recieve. I usually go with the places that give free shipping...somehow that eases my pain.

MeMo

Yeah, I was originally considering getting just the nicotiana, but was rather annoyed with the idea of spending more on shipping than the actual seeds. So the purple millet was my experimenal splurge, esp. since dd had been really excited about the purple grass in the Burpee catalog. (Naturally, I then bought my Burpee seed at Menards for about 1/3 the cost - and for some odd reason, they had larkspur when neither the catalog nor the website had it! Go figure - and I did check, it was labelled packed for 2007. But of course Menards didn't have the purple millet.)

The only cheap seed catalog I know of is Pinetree, tbh - everyplace else has been at least as expensive as Johnny's.

I'm surprised at Annies mail order prices when at the nursery plants are between 3-4 dollars each.

It sure is fun to look at the pictures however. I get great ideas for color combo's.

Ed-

I think that shipping is about 12 bux for annie's plants too. Of course, if she has something that you can't possibly get anywhere else I guess it's worth it. There was one company some time ago that used to charge a "handling" and a "shipping" fee -- sheesh!