Relax! You have plenty of time. Sounds like you have enough to stress over. A more stress-free option might be for you to order your plants or seeds online. The selection is amazing. In fact, since you want results quickly, you might consider buying flats at a wholesale cost instead! If you have neighbors or friends who want to go in with you on the cost...you will all benefit. They'll be a lot less expensive than buying 6 packs and much healthier...according to my experience. This same place has Flower Seeds and you can look at all the pics and read about them to see which ones will germinate quickest and do well when direct sown. I'm providing the link for the wholesale flats. They have annuals and perennials! Enjoy your spring & summer. Take a few deep breaths and don't stress over the little things. Not only do you have plenty of time, but you can also enjoy the flowers in your neighborhood, in the park, in the countryside....they're everywhere you look! Here is a link that might be useful: Wholesale Annual Plants

Here is a quote from the home page of the Landreth Seed Co. website: "Since 1784, the D. Landreth Seed Company has been providing its customers with one of the most extensive selections of fine lawn and garden seeds in the world. Our founders introduced into the United States some of the most beloved flowers and vegetables known today including the Zinnia, the white potato, various tomatoes, and our own Bloomsdale Spinach. We have become the oldest seed house in America because we are passionate in our quest for excellence in quality, service and innovation." Landreth Seed Co. is in danger of closing it's doors. Anyone who is concerned about preserving heirloom seeds, small businesses, and an historic part of American agriculture can help to save this company by buying from them. They have a beautiful catalog, many historic seeds, excellent hand tools, and a nice selection of gifts. Please take a moment to visit their website, landrethseeds (d0t)com and if you have the means, to support them if you can. They are part of the foundation of what Heirloom Gardening in America is about. And please send this link to your gardening friends who may not read these threads, or "Like" them on Facebook. Help make history by preserving it with technology.

Mary, Just to let you know, I'm currently in the process of trying to contact a particular person with the USDA re access to USDA seeds. A person who has posted in the Main Forum has said that anyone can request seeds, but that is not my understanding at all, nor that of others who have gotten back letters saying it is closed to all but professional breeders as is also now stated at the Home Page. And as Craig and others have said, almost all the "good" stuff is out of the USDA tomato listings by now anyway. The majority of listings, well over 95%, were old breeding lines that have been in there forever. Since Territorial said they aren't planning on doing any hybridizing, it leaves me wondering, and assuming that they got out what they wanted early last year before is was closed to all but professional breeders. And I do hope they checked the listings for USDA varieties in the SSE Yearbooks re what they might have wanted, and also to be sure that duplicate offerings/requestings were/ are not being made. But I'll just assume that was done before they made their requests. So basically what you're saying is that Territorial plans to offer more USDA varieties in the future, the same as Mike Dunton at Victory Seed has been doing in the past few years and plans on continuing to do with the varieties he already has or that Craig or I or others might send him. Right? In other words, older commercial varieties since the USDA is not a repository of heirloom varieties. I think of all that I got out in the early 90's just one was a so called heirloom, and that's Drushba, aka Druzba, which I already had from elsewhere but got it to compare with what I knew as Druzba. Carolyn

In my experience, what really turns me off are inflated shipping charges. Often seed prices are low, but the price of "shipping" (which I guess includes "processing", "packing", "filing", "checking", and maybe navel gazing) is through the roof. Seeds are fantastically small and light. Shipping costs should be microscopic. It always astounds me how much seed vendors ask for that.