Clovers is a good bet for heirloom vegetables and annuals - they're not a brick and mortar establishment. They're located around Chicagoland in portable greenhouse tents oftentimes located in and around shopping centers and closeup after Halloween. But their prices are reasonable with friendly staff and they take very good care of their stock throughout the entire season. For free heirlooms there is also Lindalana's big plant swap in Skokie every Memorial Day weekend. Check out the winter sowing forum for more information. Between Clovers and lindalana's that's where I got most of my heirloom vegetables this year.

Are you still looking for herbs? And do you have any tomato plants left? I will be in Chicago this Sunday (Little Italy) and could bring the herbs with me. I have the following herbs: Chocolate Mint Peppermint Tansy (pretty flowers but way too invasive) Catnip (Calamintha Grandiflora) Horehound Borage Garlic Chives Regular Chives Oregano

Below is the link to Laurel's website, I'll let you Google Territorial, ,etc. If you compare shipping costs I think you'll find that Darrel's shipping costs are amongst the lowest, but that's for you to decide when you compare with other sites where plants are sold. And I don't think that shipping costs should be perhaps the main criterion in deciding on any site since how the plants are packed/shipped and what the plants look like I think should also be criteria to look at.. Making decisions is also tied up on which specific varieties a place offers that might be on your want list. SSE also sells nice plants and you can check them out as well. Hope that helps, Carolyn Here is a link that might be useful: Laurel's website

I think I have answered this in another forum, but I think both books are great. Someone else pointed that Goldman's book has stuff such as recipes that are not present in Carolyn's book. On the other hand, Carolyn's book does work better as a field guide for maters, as it has presentations of each type of mater, and it's foilage, plus it's size and format are more for usage, and less for coffee table viewing. If you gotta buy one, I can't make that call for you. Carolyn's seed sources are a little out-dated, which she has stated herself I believe. Other than that, her book is a great read and is very useful to have, as is Goldman's book. Good luck.