As you know, all paper catalogs now have digital versions, making them more environmentally friendly. But when it comes to seed catalogs, staring at a screen isn’t as satisfying as flipping through a paper catalog, marking circles with a pen, or flipping through the pages. I curled up on the couch on a rainy day and read it as engrossed as I would a good book.
As I turn each page, the pictures and descriptions come alive in my head… seedlings yawning in the morning sun, ruby red tomatoes (or yellow, purple, or striped) on vines. ), a watermelon just ripening, a picnic by the lake.
Related: Study confirms why you should grow your own food
There’s a lot to look forward to in the spring (and summer and fall) garden, and it all starts in the pages of your seed catalog.
Here we’ve compiled a list of the best seed catalogs you can order this year (updated for the 2025 growing season).
All of these companies have online stores for easy shopping, but the recommendations below in particular offer printed catalogs that promise to brighten up your mailbox all winter long.
What makes these the best seed catalogs?
This list is by no means exhaustive and there are many other great seed companies not listed here. But the ones below that I recommend are also the ones I have the most experience with, and I have started those seeds every year with great success.
Learn more: Find out exactly how and what happens when seeds germinate.
These are all ethical companies with good practices and believe in promoting biodiversity in the food system. Their seed germination rates are consistently excellent (more than 90% most of the time in my case), and perhaps more importantly, they care about their customers and provide a high level of service.
My Favorite Free Seed Catalog
Richter’s (Goodwood, Ontario, Canada)
I discovered Richter’s over 14 years ago when I purchased some plants from their nursery. If you’re wondering why I ordered plants from Canada (when I lived in California at the time), it was the only nursery that carried (and shipped) rare herbs that you couldn’t find anywhere else. .
But starting up a plant is not their only area of expertise. Richter’s catalog features an amazing selection of herb species, including rare and endangered culinary and medicinal herbs that you’ve probably never heard of. This year, we harvested 63 types (yes, 63 types!) of basil, 10 types of dill, 8 types of chamomile, 8 types of cilantro, 10 types of parsley, and 10 types of sage, to name a few. .
Richter’s carries many vegetable seeds, but herbs really shine. This year, I’m ordering fireweed seeds for my perennial flower beds and dog run along my driveway. If you’ve ever visited a fire-ravaged forest or hiked through a national park in the summer, you’ve probably seen these beautiful perennial wildflowers in bloom. They are both edible (all parts of the plant) and medicinal.
Territorial Seed Company (Cottage Grove, Oregon)
Territorial Seed Company is just across the Cascade Mountains from me and I love supporting other Oregon businesses.
They have a 75-acre test, research, and production farm that is USDA Organic certified, but its location (900 feet above sea level in the rainy Willamette Valley) makes it difficult to grow long-season, hot-climate crops. It means difficult. So if you live in a similar climate with cool nights all summer long, you can be confident that any of the varieties grown and offered by Territorial Seeds are likely to do well in your garden.
Shop our wide selection of vegetables, herbs, fruits, flowers, cover crop seeds and more online or request a free catalog from our site.
Plant Interests (Broomfield, Colorado)
I love ordering from Botanical Interests because their seed packets are beautiful and hands down better than any other seed supplier I’ve ever seen.
Each packet features a detailed artist-drawn plant on the front. Peel off the package and inside is a mini-encyclopedia filled with an incredible amount of information about growing, harvesting, pest control, cooking tips, and the history of plants. If you’re new to gardening, you can’t go wrong choosing Botanical Interests because you’re truly invested in your success as a gardener.
We carry over 600 carefully selected organic, heirloom, and heirloom seeds. You can request a seed catalog by mail or view a digital version online.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (Mansfield, Missouri)
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you know that I’m a big fan of Baker Creek. (Disclosure: They have featured my cookbooks in their catalog and had me speak at their events in the past.)
Baker Creek specializes in heirloom seeds, many of which are grown and tested on our Missouri farm. (Take a behind-the-scenes tour of our Baker Creek headquarters.)
Many of the plants I’ve featured on the blog (Mexican sour gherkins, Romanesco broccoli, Romagna purple artichokes, fish peppers, black squash, etc.) came from Baker Creek seeds.
The flagship Whole Seed Catalog is big, beautiful (over 500 pages!), and reads like a thick magazine (like the September issue of Vogue, but imagines a farmer with a big smile instead of an aloof supermodel) please).
Packed with pages of seed history, growing resources, recipes, and eye candy showcasing over 1,000 heirloom seed varieties (which, if you can believe it, is just a small portion of the entire selection) . We also provide a free small catalog on request. You can also browse our catalog online.
Fedco Seeds (Clinton, Maine)
What sets Fedco apart from many other seed companies is that it is a cooperative owned by consumer and worker members, who share profits through annual dividends.
The company is also one of the few seed companies that specializes in cold-hardy plant varieties (after all, it’s based in the Northeast), and its seeds are specially adapted to harsh climates. Therefore, if you often struggle to produce good crops, you may be interested in short-season varieties.
Related: Find out when frost dates and when to plant
I primarily know the company for their seed selection, but Fedco also carries seed potatoes, onion sets, trees, and bulbs. Since we are open seasonally, we are able to keep prices low.
Fedco prints three different catalogs for different departments. You can request a mail order catalog, download a PDF version, and shop online.
Sow True Seed (Asheville, North Carolina)
My obsession with Sow True Seed began when I ordered several bags of cover crop seeds from the company. I really like the raised bed mixes they offer.
More information: How to grow peas as a simple cover crop in your home garden
Then I decided to try planting potato onions and Egyptian walking onions in my perennial vegetable bed. And they were one of the few places that carried these seeds. Right now I have my eye on mushroom plugs and would like to add them to a shady spot in the garden.
This worker-owned cooperative prints a much smaller catalog than some other companies, but it’s packed with a variety of seed varieties, from the classics to the unique. Think ground nuts, peanuts, loofah gourds, birdhouse gourds, and other fun things I’m looking for. This is my daughter’s school garden! (Not to mention myself.)
Tall Mowed Organic Seed (Wolcott, Vermont)
High Mowing Organic Seeds is one of the few horticultural seed companies with 100% organic certification and non-GMO Project certification.
They also spearheaded the Safe Seed Pledge in 1999, recruiting nine other seed companies to sign a statement opposing genetic engineering. (The pledge has since been signed by more than 370 seed companies around the world, including those on this list.)
High Mowing consistently produces high quality certified organic vegetable, fruit, herb and flower seeds year after year. (Don’t confuse organic with heirloom, though; the company sells open-pollinated heirloom as well as hybrid seeds that are bred for flavor, yield, and disease resistance.)
Their seed catalog (available by mail and online) is different from other garden seed catalogs in that it also includes personal profiles of the growers, farmers, and gardeners who use their seeds. It’s a great read.
Turtle Tree Seed (Copake, NY)
Turtle Tree Seed is unique in that we only offer Demeter-certified biodynamic seeds, 75% of which are grown in intentional communities in upstate New York (the remainder are grown on biodynamic farms). , available in the catalog). .
Biodynamics is a sustainable, holistic approach to farming that uses only organic materials for fertilizer and soil conditioning, and often bases farming activities on lunar cycles. It views the entire farm as a closed-loop, biodiverse, integrated ecosystem where soil, plants, animals and humans feed each other.
All this means that biodynamically farmed seeds have the potential to be more resilient (prevent pests and diseases, and produce larger yields) without the need for external inputs. Intrigued? Well, you’ll never know until you try!
Seed Savers Exchange (Decorah, Iowa)
Far more than just a garden seed company, Seed Savers Exchange is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the biodiversity of food crops.
They collect and store thousands of rare heirloom seed varieties in the nation’s largest non-governmental seed bank, and are the world’s largest online seed exchange where members can search and trade open-pollinated seeds and plants with each other. I am running a place.
If you’re in their neck of the woods, you can visit their exhibition gardens and farms where much of their work takes place. For everyone else, Seed Savers Exchange offers beautiful print and digital catalogs. You can also buy vegetable, herb, and flower seeds online.
Pine Tree Garden Seeds (New Gloucester, Maine)
Pine trees have been around for over 40 years, but I only started using seeds in the last few years. So far, we have had high germination rates and bountiful harvests every time, so we recommend it with confidence.
Pinetree Garden Seeds sells vegetable, herb, and flower seeds (more than 1,300 types), as well as live plants, tubers, seed garlic, mushroom logs, garden supplies, soap making supplies, teas, condiments, and books. You’ll be surprised how much you can carry!
We have an excellent full-color catalog that you can request by mail or view our PDF catalog online.
Seed companies you should know more about
Adaptive Seeds (Sweethome, Oregon) Annie’s Heirloom Seeds (Hudsonville, Michigan) Dixondale Farms (Carrizo Springs, Texas) — Onions, shallots, leeks only Filaree Farm — Seed garlic, asparagus crowns, potatoes, sweet potatoes Harris Seeds (Rochester , Texas) NY) Hudson Valley Seed Company (Accord, NY) John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds (Bantam, CT) Johnny’s Selected Seeds (Winslow, Maine) Jung Seed (Randolph, Wisconsin) Kitazawa Seed (Salt Lake City, Utah) — Asian Seed Varieties Park Seed (Hodges, South Carolina) Renee’s Garden (Felton, California) San Diego Seed Company (San Diego, California) ) Seeds from Italy (Lawrence, Kansas) Select Seeds (Union, CT) Siskiyou Seeds (Williams, OR) Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (Mineral, VA) Strictly Medicinal Seeds (Williams, Oregon) West Coast Seeds (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
Are there any other good seed companies with printed catalogs that I should collect? What are your favorite sources? It may be added in next year’s update.
To get started with seeds, start here
This post is an update of an article originally published on January 23, 2020.
