It's That Time of Year Again!

Shopping for garden seeds and plants is one of the most enjoyable parts of gardening for many. It is really one of the highlights of the winter gardening season in Minnesota. Like most of us, I prefer to do a lot of my shopping from the convenience of a comfortable chair with my feet up. If I am just in the planning stage, it is helpful to know which catalogs will offer me the most help. Some of the best offer information that will make me a better gardener, but at the very least I expect them to tell me everything I need to know about any plant they sell. After I have done the planning and know what I want, I like to be able to compare prices, sizes and shipping costs before I lay out any money. And last, but certainly not least, I would like to have confidence that they are reputable dealers who are interested in my satisfaction.

The Internet is such a wonderful tool of the Information Age. All of that information is out there. We just have to know how to find it and use it. That certainly makes shopping a bit different than it has been in the past. I like it! It is an empowering feeling to travel around cyberspace on my own, sampling and selecting, making my own decisions on the things I want to buy without pressure from a salesperson or a lot of fancy hype. I hope these suggestions will help you feel empowered too.

How do you know a good catalog when you see one? There are several criteria you can use. First, how much information does the catalog give you both about its offerings and about gardening in general. The best are veritable reference works of helpful information.

Next, does the catalog give zone information for the plants it sells? If it doesn't it is giving the impression, intended or not, that the plants will grow anywhere. This is probably the single greatest problem for us in the North. Almost anything that has more than one variety grafted on the same stem is suspect, because most plants grown that way are not reliably top hardy here. You would think this criteria would not apply to seed catalogs, but if they sell seed for perennial plants of any kind, it does. If you are an experienced gardener, you may not agree with some of the hardiness zone information, because we are always discovering ways to get around the limits. However, if you are a beginning gardener or the plant is new to you, you won't go wrong with these recommendations as they tend to be very conservative.

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