Some Good Places to Purchase Seeds
Many local stores will carry seeds in season, but if you want to plan ahead and get the best prices and widest range of varieties there’s no substitute for mail order companies.
Fedco is my favorite source for seeds. is an all-around excellent resource for New England gardeners. Their prices can’t be beat ($1 or less for many packets) and the quality is consistently good. A workers’ cooperative in Maine, Fedco offers a wide range of heirloom and non hybrid varieties, supports small farmers (many of them in Maine), and an ever-larger percentage of their seeds are organically and/or sustainably grown. They aren’t fancy – the catalogs are printed in black and white on newsprint, if you want pictures you have to go to the website, and your order is likely to arrive in reused cardboard boxes and reused plastic bags. But if you want interesting seeds and an excellent price-point, go to Fedco.
Johnny’s Selected Seeds. If you have any interest in growing veggies, get yourself on Johnny’s mailing list. Their catalogue is full of useful information that is exceptionally well-presented. Prices are typical for the trade, and their veggie and flower varieties are well-chosen. Johnny’s is an employee-owned company based in Maine – a business worth supporting, if only so you can keep receiving their catalog.
If you are considering a mail-order source not listed here, check them out first in the Watchdog section of the Dave’s Garden website, which provides invaluable user feedback on more than seven thousand garden companies.
Pinetree Garden Seeds. Cheap. Seed packets often contain surprisingly few seeds, which can be fine for the home gardener who doesn’t want a lot of anything anyway. Pinetree tends to cut corners on everything except the thing that matters most – seed quality. Think cheap. (And don’t buy live plants from them.) www.superseeds.com
Kitchen Garden Seeds and The Cook’s Garden. Great for serious cooks. You’ll find a small selection of really good and sometimes esoteric veggies, carefully selected for home gardens and kitchen pleasure. Prices are more than I usually pay, but $3 can be worth it for something you’ll really enjoy.
Seed Savers Exchange. A wonderful source for heirloom varieties of vegetables, flowers, herbs potatoes, and garlic. A non-profit organization, Seed Savers links gardeners and growers who are trying to preserve the diversity of our garden heritage.
Vermont Wildflower Farm. A great source of wildflower seeds, and now sells other types of seeds as well. www.vermontwildflowerfarm.com
Seeds of Change. Sells only organic seeds, which is great, but grows many of them in New Mexico, which requires more water than my conscience feels good about.
Burpee, Gurney, Park Seeds, and Vesey’s Seeds. These are all reputable sources … not my preferred sources, for one reason or another, but fine places to get seeds.
Where to purchase: