Gardening with Allen Wilson: Favorite sources for seeds, plants

I read the article in last week’s garden section about selecting seed catalogs. Would you share with us some of your favorite sources for seeds and plants?

My selection of seed catalogs and garden websites has grown and changed over the years. My background includes some unique insights. I worked for a flower seed production company for 10 years and became personally acquainted with many of the packet and mail-order companies to which we sold seeds.

My two favorite websites for high-quality vegetable seeds are TerritorialSeed.com in Cottage Grove, Ore., and JohnnySeeds.com in Waterville, Maine. Both of these companies have testing grounds where they plant and evaluate all the seeds which they sell. Both of these test sites are similar in growing conditions to Western Washington and Oregon. Both sites and their catalogs contain a lot of information about planting and growing.

Although I sometimes order flower seeds from Territorial and Johnny’s, I find that Parkseed.com and Burpee.com have larger selections of flower seeds. Another occasional source for both flower and vegetable seeds is Stokeseeds.com.

Territorial Seeds also has packet seed racks at full-service garden stores. Northrup King, Ferry Morse and Ed Hume are also good packet seed sources.

Shop local

Some of my seeds and most of my plants are purchased from local full-service nurseries and garden stores. My two favorite stores are Yard-n-Garden Land and Shorty’s. I also occasionally purchase plants from Portland Nursery. These stores not only have high-quality plants that are well cared for, but they also have professional staff who can answer questions and make recommendations. Their prices are usually competitive with big-box stores and their variety selections are much larger. They also have a good selection of plants and supplies at times of the year when big-box stores have very little.

I usually look at plants when I visit big-box stores like Fred Meyer, Home Depot, Walmart and Lowe’s. I occasionally purchase plants at these locations, especially annual flowers and vegetables.

My favorite online source for roses is HeirloomRoses.com in St. Paul, Ore. They have good cultural information including disease resistance, which is very important to me. They also respond promptly to email requests for information.

Shop local

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