Mail-order catalogs and display racks everywhere from garden centers to grocery and hardware stores sell seeds. Which sources offer the best bargains? Mail-order seed companies are big business. Pick up a catalog and wander through those glossy pages of perfect plants; you can't help but be tempted to order many. Rule number one is to take the pictures with a grain of salt. Your plants probably won't look just like the picture-perfect ones.
Compare several catalogs, and you will quickly find that most are selling the same seeds, packaged a little differently in a range of prices. Look for the best-priced varieties with the color, flavor, texture, growth habit, or other traits you desire. Hint: It's not always the biggest company that offers the smallest price. Furthermore small seed companies often focus on local conditions and offer varieties that will thrive in your immediate area. Check them first if there are any near you.
Gardening magazines often have a seed-savers exchange section. Someone has saved variety X and would like to trade for Y. These are a great way to get seedsoften rare or heirloom varieties that are hard to find elsewhere. There are seed-saving clubs, such as the Seed Savers Exchange, the members of which trade thousands of seed varieties. (See page 156 for address.) Finally, plant associations abound for nearly every kind of plantfrom alpines to water lilies. National groups usually send out a newsletter in which members often list plants they have to offer. If you have a real passion for a particular kind of plant, get involved with the local chapter of the appropriate association. (Of course, the really cheap way is to become friends with someone who is already a member and borrow a copy of the newsletter!)
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