May I recommend Botanical Interests?

This is the second in a short series of posts on seed companies that I patronize. I write as a satisfied customer, nothing more. The first post was about New Hope Seed Company, a small family farm/business located in western Tennessee. I shop New Hope first. Filed under "What you may not like about New Hope" I noted that

-- If you are looking for a one-stop seed shopping experience, this is not the place to go looking.

If you are looking for that sort of experience, and still want to avoid the seed company racket, i.e., Monsanto, Botanical Interests is the place to go. They've got it all-- flowers, herbs, vegetables, gardening tools. They've signed the Safe Seed Pledge, meaning that you'll find no Round-up Ready (i.e., genetically modified) cotton seed at Botanical Interests!

I get the majority of my seeds at Botanical Interests, it's my second stop. 

What I like about Botanical Interests

-- Breadth of selection. They list 291 vegetable seeds, 99 of which are heirloom (open pollinated). What I especially like about the selection is the availability of "odd" veggies, Greek pepperoncini peppers, for example. 

-- Collections. These are groups of plants that go together. The Chef's Herb Garden Seed Collection contains nine packets of essential kitchen herbs. There are 14 flower collections, everything from Beauty That Can Take The Heat to Xeric Flower Seed Collection. Oh! What's this? Weird and Wonderful Seed Collection. (See above.)

-- Customer Service. I once had to call about a mistake I'd made. A real person answered and fixed my mistake. Here's The Scoop on Botanical Interests at Dave's Garden. Very positive.

-- Seed packet. Botanical Interests is very focused on providing information. From their web site

Everything you need to know is printed on the packet.

-- Web site. Very easy to navigate. Tons of information. 

-- Gift Certificate. The Girls once gave me a $50 gift certificate. Kid in candy store.

-- Availability. Botanical Interests started out as a seed supplier for garden centers. Only recently did they open up to the on-line public. I've seen Botanical Interests seeds at several garden shops (although none in Mississippi).

-- Quick shipping, even from Colorado.

What you may not like about Botanical Interests

-- Seed packet. See above. It's covered with information but most of it is inside the seed packet. I learned years ago that it's not necessary to plant a whole packet of seeds (cucumbers come to mind), so I save my purchased seeds from year to year. Looking at the inside of the packet means I have to store the packet and seeds in a baggie. 

-- Seed packet. See above & above. I think the inside font is 2. I know it would cost more, but I'd be willing to pay the extra dime if the inside information was on a separate small piece of paper. 

-- Packaging. The seeds are not packaged in a small plastic bag  within the paper packet.