Thanks, David! I have self-watering planters but it still seems hard to find plants (at least, plants that I like) that are happy with that summer sun!

I ordered seeds from Harris for about $5 for 25 seeds -- if they grow well for me I think it will be a good return on the investment (if not, it wouldn't be the first time.. ) Really wanted to get the blue and yellow because I do like that color combination, but as a Michigan State alum I couldn't bring myself to have U of M colors out on the deck . (I went for the blue and hot pink instead.)

Well - that's not totally unreasonable. I have seen them for 50 cents a seed. 20 cents is acceptable. Good luck. Obviously I have no experience from seed and they just became available from seed a few years ago.

Yeah if you only get 8 plants - well worth it. They go for 9 - 15 $ around here.

So far, I just have the Baker Creek catalog.

FYI, if anyone is ordering from Harris Seeds, there is a free shipping code.

Harris Seeds
Free Shipping
code: 6PRA024
expires: 3/1/16

Baker Creek came, gorgeous as always and THICK this year. Every time I look at the gorgeous photos in their catalog, I think "This is like porn for Gardeners".

I also received the SEE catalog! I thought I had to join to get that, but I don't remember splurging on SSE membership! Senility, probably.

RickCorey said:Baker Creek came, gorgeous as always and THICK this year. Every time I look at the gorgeous photos in their catalog, I think "This is like porn for Gardeners".

I also received the SEE catalog! I thought I had to join to get that, but I don't remember splurging on SSE membership! Senility, probably.

You do not need to be an SSE member to get the catalog or buy seeds. I got my catalog this week and bought seeds from them this year and I am not a member.

Hah! Thanks.

I had speculated that, when I asked them about Schochler watermelon seeds, they made a "special exception just for me" and sent me the catalog as some kind of reward. Nope!

I formed many opinions about how SSE works, multiple decades ago, and it seems to be turning out that many of those opinions are wrong. Oh, well, not a new experience for me. At least THIS instance wasn't senility. Or not entirely.

RickCorey said:Hah! Thanks.

I had speculated that, when I asked them about Schochler watermelon seeds, they made a "special exception just for me" and sent me the catalog as some kind of reward. Nope!

I formed many opinions about how SSE works, multiple decades ago, and it seems to be turning out that many of those opinions are wrong. Oh, well, not a new experience for me. At least THIS instance wasn't senility. Or not entirely.

Aw, Rick -- too bad Jay went and burst your bubble like that!

Actually, though, SSE has changed a great deal over the years, so some of your opinions might just be outdated. I'm still growing seeds of "Blue Peter" pole beans that I got through SSE back in the mid '80s; I'm pretty sure that back then (when Kent Whealy was running the SSE) there was no commercial catalog of seeds, just listings from members.

As nice as the commercial catalog is... if you join you will get the "yearbook," with listings from the members, and can also browse the listings on the SSE website. (LOL, there's another feature - a website - that wasn't available in the '80s!)

>> if you join you will get the "yearbook," with listings from the members,

That's what I was thinking of.

No seed catalogs in my mailbox today

(our mail carrier is probably cutting off the flow of catalogs here... and I wouldn't really blame her!)

Sandy, I have mine also on the south side of the house, full sun and they do fine, but in my experience, they blossom more in cooler temps.

Weedwhacker said:No seed catalogs in my mailbox today

(our mail carrier is probably cutting off the flow of catalogs here... and I wouldn't really blame her!)

I think he or she had to wait for the BIG mail truck to deliver all those catalogs.

My haul so far:

Missouri Wildflower Nursery
Stokes
Horizon Herbs
Prairie Moon Nursery
Pinetree
Botanical Interests

I have to admit though, 99.9 % of my purchases these days are on the WWW. I can recall fondly the days before the Internet when I spent hour upon hour drooling over the catalogs. And sending in a huge order for maybe 15 $.

David--I still drool over the catalogs, but go on=line to order. I love looking at catalogs during the Nov/Dec/early Jan. timeframe when I'm planning my personal garden, the demonstration gardens at the fairgrounds (for Master Gardeners) and planning seeds for the plant sale (for Master Gardeners). I really enjoy planning what we will grow for our plant sale--our herb/veggie tables have grown to be a huge part of the sale. It's been so exciting to see people want to grow veggies and herbs. Much interest in heirloom tomatoes, and people wanting to try something new.

I also frequent some websites that do not do paper catalogs. Perhaps we need to start a separate thread for that.

Linda - you sound much like me (think we shared info before on this). Out MG group grew 92 varieties of tomatoes this year and our fall tomato Fest was a huge success. About a third of them were purchased via normal catalogs. In our Spring plant sale (about 50 % ordered from catalogs) we grossed over 5 K $.

David--with 92 varieties (yikes, can't even imagine), how many plants does that equate to??? We try to keep it down to a reasonable variety, although we never know what will get donated. Plus, we have to cover all of our bases.....paste tomatoes, dwarfs, each of the colors, hybrids, heirlooms.

Hmmmm...one of these days I should count. Maybe we do have 92 varieties

Linda - we are getting too far OT. I am starting a new thread entitled Growing nearly 100 varieties of Tomatoes in the Vegetables and Fruit forum. See you there.

http://garden.org/thread/view_...

Awesome--thanks for starting the new thread.

I do ALL my ordering seed online. About half the sites I browse do not have catalogs.

Starting about Nov, I bookmark those that I like...then come December, I re-visit my bookmarks and make my final selectioons. . I uTRY to exercise patience and NOT order until after Christmas. . . but this year, as usual, I failed: I ordered Christmas evening!

The catalogs start arriving about now. . so I save them and dog-ear pages with possibilities for NEXT year!

(AWWW shucks!! A tomato thread I can't join: I'll just have to LURK!!!. . . I average about 10 varieties started and 8 grown. . with the rest given away

No need to Lurk @BetNC - c'mon over.

@BetNC Here is a link to David's entire tomato thread and not just a single post. You'll be able to post on the thread page.
The thread "Growing nearly 100 varieties of Tomatoes" in Vegetables and Fruit forum

Well, I had to order the new Salvia coccinea 'Summer Jewel Lavender' from Harris Seed and also got a pack of the mix with red, pink and white. I ignored a lot of pretty faces and didn't add more to my order. I got free shipping with that code, too!