One of the earliest seed catalogs to arrive in my mailbox is the one from Thompson and Morgan (T&M). http://www.thompson-morgan.com I rarely order from this catalog. The cost of their seeds is somewhat celestial; but, oh, what a catalog to dream on! It offers seed for such exotics as moth orchids and Ginko Biloba trees. There's stuff in there I've never even heard of. Want to grow a cycad, a Japanese Maple, or maybe a kiwi from seed? T&M has it. How about a rose bush or a fuchsia? It's in there. T&M is definitely fantasyland for adventurous gardeners.
Now, I doubt I'll ever have the patience to grow a tree from seed. I visited our state forest nursery once where they do just that, and was glad I was employed elsewhere. Waiting as much as two years for a seed to germinate would drive me 'round the bend. However, I do like to try growing at least one unusual plant from seed each year. I get many of my way-out ideas from T&M.
Another really nice feature of this catalog is what they call the "green fingers guide". It's part of the header for each plant description. This guide gives you the level of experience required of the gardener to grow the plant. The first letter of the guide indicates ease of germination and ranges from E for easy to C for challenging. Directly beneath the guide are listed germination notes, if applicable. These notes give hints about such things as length of stratification times.
Though the notes are helpful, you'll need a better reference if you want to try starting a variety of more difficult plants from seed. A book I use all the time, and believe no serious gardener should be without, is Anne Halpin's "Gardener's Desk Reference", published by McMillan and sponsored by Horticulture magazine. It touts itself as being "The ultimate resource for everything a gardener could ever want to know". Bold, confident words that aren't far off. Even if you never purchase any other gardening book, get this one. You won't regret the rather hefty price tag. You may have to search for it. It's not presently available from the Barnes and Noble website, though I have frequently seen it offered in bookstores. I got mine years ago, for almost nothing, as an introductory book purchase through a book club. I believe it's still offered this way, so shop around.
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