Winter in the Rockies - skiing, hiking, sledding, gardening. Gardening? Ah, yes a true gardener lets no season escape from this addictive and therapeutic 'green' hobby - especially when it comes to collecting new seed catalogues this time of year. The addiction lies in collecting more catalogues each year thus spending every fireside minute pouring over the informative pages and colour pictures extolling the virtues of this years newest and strangest vegetables and flowers. The therapy comes later, when you get to dig in the warm earth, plant, water and wait for the first growth to emerge. Finding and ordering these mini-seed encyclopedias has become easier since the introduction of on-line gardening catalogues via the internet. No stamps, no shipping cost and no waiting. Just click on the catalogue and browse directly or down load the catalogue and view from your desktop. Some companies that still mail catalogues the old fashioned way, offer a website where you can find their toll-free phone number, print out order forms and their post office address. You can request a catalogue by e-mail at many sites and speed up the delivery process.
The growing attraction to mail-order seed houses? Variety - everything and anything can be mail ordered: from nut tree seedlings and heritage wildflowers to shiitake mushroom spawn and blue potatoes. If you live in the country it's hard to get a diverse selection of seeds available now to start that window-sill greenhouse. For city green-thumbs, where the variety is easier found, the lure is often availability and price. The Devonian Gardens of Edmonton offer 15 free seed packets to members and other seed houses start pricing from as low as .85 cents a pack - more for special varieties. There's even a potato seed catalogue from Prince Edward Island that offers every kind of potato you could possibly want, at reasonable prices - the opportunity to experiment with spuds is just a click away. In addition to all the new and specialized seed outlets, there are still the older establishments like Stokes and Dominion Seed House. They too have joined the world wide web and host user friendly, informative sites where ordering has never been easier and the variety offered even better (Stokes lists 2,500 varieties of seeds in their 112 page free colour catalogue).
Here are several Canadian seed suppliers - most with websites - to enable your 'green' addiction this white winter. Happy virtual gardening!
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