Plant Material >
Tools, Accessories, Supplies and Furniture >
Botanical Gardens >
Fran's Favorite Gardening Blogs >
Plant Material
selectseeds.com
A wonderful selection of heirloom seeds. I especially love their sweet pea varieties. Excellent service!
www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com
Brent and Becky Heath are the masters of bulbs growing. They have spent their entire lives doing it masterfully. They freely pass on their knowledge and continue to offer gardeners a wide range of spring and summer bulbs of high quality at moderate prices. A must have catalogue!
www.burpee.com
Known best for its seeds but also sells quality perennials as well as specialized vegetable plants. Now that the owner, George Ball, has centralized all of its offerings, including Heronswood Nursery, onto its trial farms in Pennsylvania, it will be interesting to see what happens next with this well known American gardening company.
www.canyoncreeknursery.com
A small family run business out of California, with a very decent catalogue. They have great offerings of euphorbias, salvias and heirloom violets. If you need a special plant, they will go out of their way to try to help you find it. Plant material is consistently excellent.
www.colorblends.com
I started receiving Colorblend's catalogue just a few years ago, originally bought a few types of bulbs from them and was so pleased with what I received that I continue to purchase some from them practically every season. Tim Schipper, the owner, understands that bulbs are visual medium. Consequently, his catalogue contains photographs of bulb mixtures that will make your mouth water and certainly compell you to make a purchase. High quality at moderate prices.
www.cooksgarden.com
The owner, Ellen Ecker Ogden, has done a terrific job of introducing consumers to vegetables that are 'from seed to table'. Every seed offering is made to sound scrumptious!
www.diggingdog.com
Digging Dog's catalogue is a California nursery that produces an descriptive, illustrated catalogue that should be on every gardener's shelf. Their selection consists of perennials, grasses and shrubs....all at reasonable prices. It is for their diverse and large offering of salvias that I hunger for the catalogue each year!
www.highcountrygardens.com
Founder David Salman has done a superlative job of bringing high quality Southwest drought resistant plants to other parts of the country. His catalogue is a feast for the eyes and is chock full of great information.
www.jacksonandperkins.com
Although they are known best for their terrific selection of quality roses, Jackson and Perkins also offers everything from perennials to shrubbery to fashionable accessories. Good quality at fair prices.
www.logees.com
A family run business for over 100 years, Logee's is the catalogue to have if you're interested in tropical and container gardening both for inside and outdoors. Their plant selection is stunning and of premium quality.
www.provenwinners.com
Proven Winners is one of the largest growers of both annuals and perennials that are sold to independent garden centers throghout the country. They are big on offering new introductions and have really made a mark in the industry with their container plant offerings. Proven Winner's plant material is of the highest quality. These folks really care about what they're doing!
www.seedsofchange.com
One of my all time favorite seed catalogues because it offers 100% certified organic seeds. Along with an exciting selection of edible and floral seeds, a slew of information is conveyed to the consumer. They also have a complete offering of tools and accessories of which I've purchased several and have been very satisfied.
www.thompsonandmorgan.com
This venerable seed catalogue really does live up to its reputation as the grand seed catalogue of all times. Every variety of flower seed imaginable is offered along with new varities especially created by T&M each year. Especially worthwhile is their coding of best conditions under which seeds germinate and the level of difficulty of seed germination for each species. This is a must have catalogue for anyone who is interested in taking seed germination from a rudimentary to more intermediate level of skillfulness.
www.tomatogrowers.com
The name says it all. This catalogue offers practically every type of tomato seed imaginable, along with several other vegetable seeds.
www.weAREroses.com
Any serious rose collector who is interested in buying beautiful antique garden roses should keep this catalogue on file. They offer certain roses that I have yet to find in any other catalogue and their roses are always of high quality and larger in size than some other fine rose purveyors.
top of page >
Tools, Accessories, Supplies and Furniture
www.landscapeyourvision.com
An easy to use design software tool for homeowners who want to get a sense of how their garden will look when designed with specific plants, ground materials and structures. Worth purchasing for any DIY gardener or even for those who want to see how their property will look when designed in a certain style.
www.smithandhawken.com
Originally known for their quality line of tools, over the years Smith and Hawkens has expanded into a chain fine retail gardening stores specifically focusing on 'garden lifestyle' including furniture, containers, accessories, tools, a smattering of books and clothing. Not the place to purchase plants except for the odd orchid or herb plants. Prices are not cheap but they have seasonal sales where you can find terrific buys. The quality of their tools cannot beat. I have some that are close to 30 years old and are still in great working condition!
top of page >
Botanical Gardens
www.BBG.org
The Brooklyn Botanical Garden is a 52 acre garden with specialty gardens, plant collections, community and educational outreach programs and cultural events. Admired as an urban horticultural and botanical resource, BBG inspires visitors to discover that plants are essential to life. It is worth it to become a member of BBG even if you don't live close to NYC in order to receive their 4 softback books per year on a variety of timely horticultural subjects.
www.chanticleergarden.org
A 35 acre pleasure garden that is edgy, exciting and profuse. Tranformed from a private to public garden in 1990, under the creative directorship of Chris Woods, the foundation and bones of this garden were etched in by Chris and his staff throughout his tenure. Bill Thomas, the present Executive Director of Chanticleer, picked up the baton 3 years ago and has not looked back. Chanticleer is catapulting to the top of the list of great American gardens. With an incredibly creative and competent staff, Bill Thomas has facilitated them in unearthing more and more of their individual creativity which adds up to a garden that is shockingly emotional and glorious. This is a rare piece of artwork and a MUST SEE!!
www.NYBG.org
The New York Botanical Garden is one of the great public gardens in this country. If you live near NYC, it is money well spent to become a member. The garden consists of 250 acres, 50 gardens and plant collections, a gift and book shop and an educational department.
top of page >
Fran's Favorite Gardening Blogs
web.mac.com/davidperryphoto1/GardenBlog/A_Photographers_Garden_Blog/A_Photographers_Garden_Blog.html
www.2greenthumbsup.com
www.alwaysgrowing.wordpress.com
www.atidewatergardener.blogspot.com
www.blackswampgirl.blogspot.com
www.blithewold.org/blog/
www.bloomingwriter.blogspot.com
www.blotanical.com
www.bumblebeeblog.com
www.coldclimategardening.org
www.fairegarden.blogspot.com
www.gardeninggonewild.com
The idea for Gardening Gone Wild came out of the wonderful interactions I have had over several years with gardening professionals throughout North America, all of whom are passionate gardeners. Although this consortium of gardeners is more than occupied with their “day jobs,” those of us who have chosen to become contributors are individuals who have the desire to express our thoughts, ideas, and philosophies about gardening and the world in which we live.
www.melaniesoldcountrygarden.blogspot.com
www.penick.net/digging/
top of page >