2011 seed catalogues (yeah I want spring already!)

[CentrallyCalm]

Well we've only lived here about 8 weeks, snow fell heavy enough to sled and build a snowman yesterday (oh joy) and I want spring! LOL

I am looking at seed catalogues, some seeds need to be started very early (like February, so I have been reading...LOL...)

And I wanted to build the greenhouse before the snow flew. Too late. Who knew it would be a dumping in OCTOBER! There still may be time in November... who knows.

BUT FOR NOW...

This list is available for delivery of a FREE catalogue in Canada. (I have been finding that not all companies offer print catalogues any more; and you have to really watch where they will ship too.)

If you have more Canadian sites, which print catalogues and ship them for free; sell seeds and/or supplies to Canadians... please add them to this thread. Thanks!

Thompson & Morgan Quality English Seeds

Stokes Seeds

Johnny's Selected Seeds

Richters (this will come in December 2010 for the 2011 according to their site) This is a Herb Catalogue.

The Cook's Garden

Dripworks (for pond liners and drip irrigation) FREE catalogue to Canada

[DaveP]

Thanks for the list!

[lecale]

Dominion Seed House flowers (annual bulbs perennials) vegetables trees mushrooms

Veseys flowers (annual bulbs perennials) vegetables

Lee Valley indoor/outdoor gardening tools and supplies

[Lynn49]

All good, thank you!
We had a bad experience with Vesey's two years ago..a lilac tree we ordered still looked like a stick into the summer, not a leaf or bud to be found, so we contacted them, and were told basically, "Oh, well...maybe it was this, or the way you did that.....". We've been planting trees and gardening for 40 years...I think we KNOW how to plant a tree by now!
Our more 'exotic' lilies did come up, however, and continue to bloom, but I won't be ordering from them again. Just fyi....

[lecale]

Yeah Vesey's is the catalogue with all the flowers in 3D Technicolor LOL...the kind of place that will show 'Blue Moon' rose as somehow actually being blue (not dull lilac). I haven't ordered but I still have it around.

I have a warm spot for Lee Valley because I picked up 3 pairs of weird looking household shears for $10 and dh who has arthritis loves them and has declared all of them "his". Also bought a great folding closet door handle for $3.35, tax in, free shipping, right when I was looking.

Dominion has been around for ages and was the catalogue my mother used primarily. They had some brief financial troubles in the 80's or 90's and faded from view but they are going strong again now. They have a more traditional selection of plants on offer (i.e., more zone-appropriate, more focussed on production) but offer a lot of new/award winning varieties of favourites.

I grew papaya and pomegranite plants from Richter's (went there) and they were a lot of fun. The cats slaughtered the papayas by one day deciding to eat the tops off (think small "palm tree" with fig leaves configuration). The pomegranites bloomed profusely and tried to make small fruit. They loved the Ontario summer and even when I forgot to water them and all their leaves baked off on the patio they loved it more. A prof I had said he enjoyed growing cardamom. I have used Richters intermittently over 20+ years (mail/visit) but I think they have gone more mainstream/less interesting since the old guy died a few years ago and they shifted generations. Last year I considered buying a curry leaf plant (for pork vindaloo) but at $15 plus ship I ended up getting seeds for a couple bucks from india on eBay. I knocked my seedling tray on the floor just as things were staring to happen but even so, picked up curry leaf sprays at the Indian grocer flown in from India at $1/bunch. Put them in the freezer. Now it's out of the catalogue. (I just follow the path of least resistance.) They have wasabi at $15 but they don't explain if for $15 you get a garden infested with wasabi (like regular horseradish) or just "some" wasabi. Face it, for $15 I'm expecting a wasabi farm. And mourning what was.

My mother hated getting a bunch of random cr*p at xmas and our arrangement for a number of years was every fall I would mail away for every garden catalogue related to anything she was currently into (you know how people get pelagonium, rose, african violet, fruit tree/bush/vine, etc. fixations.) Cyndi's Catalog of Garden Catalogs is a good place to start. It is both US and Canadian but you'll find there are a lot of Canadian catalogs. My mother was ordering a lot of fruit trees and roses from Manitoba because she figures if you can make it there you can make it anywhere LOL and god good stock/ship/prices. I'd order about 20 catalogues and be out postage + $0-1-2 and keep my mother off my dad's back all winter. Happy holidays! Most places seem to resend for free after the initial request and if you check out the smaller catalogues you'll meet some really neat hardcore hobbyists that are social and good for keeping your mother occupied.

[xXtiggerXx]

The Stokes link doesn't work

[danielhawke]

thanks!