I've noticed the price of seeds seems to gone up dramatically, with many of the main major seed supply companies, while just a few ( & I mean very few, seed companies) remain relatively cheap. To name one, Plantation products, which appears to include American Seed Co. The once vast products, of Thompson & Morgan, in the U.S. has greatly diminished after being bought out by another L.L.C.conglomerate and doesn't even compare to your British counterpart whatsoever anymore. It just isn't reduced numbers of seeds, usually given a specific stated approximate count. But prices from some major suppliers have increased & skyrocketed. Yes, it can literally end up being easier just to purchase one or two plants, hope they survive & produce your own seeds. While postage & shipping can be as high as $7.from some places, for just seeds alone! Meanwhile, recently looking at what it would cost to order from the likes of Chiltern in U.K., shipping is nearly double that! So, years ago I used to simply ask traders to order an approximately equal value, witH a trader & thereby keep postage prices as reasonable as possible, while attempting a fair comparable seed trade. (not always easy to do) As for Penstemon, some can be tricky, yet others can simply be seemingly an entire waste of time, (as I found with 'Tubular Bells') Plants are generally limited to just a few named cultivars, in this genus. Unless maybe through High Country Gardens... Feel free to contact me, through my page & I'll do the same.

I just received this catalog yesterday....looks pretty good, reasonable prices/shipping and pretty generous with most seeds! Mostly veggies and 16 pages of several herbs and flowers. Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Garden Seeds

That is unfortunate. Have had that happen to me and can't help wondering if it was ignorance or is it was intentional. Fortunately there are some good native plant suppliers out there. Two that I have ordered from are Prairie Moon Nursery and Ion Exchange. Prairie Moon sells seeds for Phlox divaricata and Ion Exchange has plugs (small plants in trays). You might also see if you can find a native plant society in your area that has a native plant sale in the spring. Once you find a good supplier you will probably end up buying more from them, which is how it should work. Good luck.

I'm going to bump this because it's that season when many of us start thumbing through catalogs. I highly recommend Baker Creek Seeds. (rareseeds.com) I have ordered from them many times. I typically get seeds from them within a week. I have had only one "problem" (the free seeds they gave me were duplicates and I asked them not to send another batch, lol, so they sent three packages of different free seeds, wow!) and their customer service was phenomenal. Heirloomseeds is also fantastic. I've only ordered from them once, but I wouldn't hesitate to order from them again. Tomatofest.com is great. I've heard mixed reviews about them, but I had a great experience. They even included a handwritten note in the package. I was astounded.