Have you started receiving yours yet? I have received about 6-7 so far, including Baker Creek Seeds, one of my favorites.

Are you planning on ordering anything new this year?

Trying hard not to order, but ordered Kabloom yellow Calibrachoa seeds.
I have not grown these from seed before.
Thought they might go with African Sunset petunias?
Trying hard NOT to order blue ones.......are they more purple than blue?

I got my Bakers Creek this week.

I'd like to try the Kabloom seeds too, Caroline -- I got a catalog from Park's a couple of days ago, I think that's where I saw them.

Also saw quite a few things in the Baker's Creek catalog that I'd like to order... last year was the first time that I got their catalog and it came after I already had ordered everything, so I didn't pay that much attention to it. This year I'm thinking "why didn't I know about this place before??"

Does anyone get Baker Creek's "Whole Seed Catalog" ? Is it worth getting?

CarolineScott said:Trying hard not to order, but ordered Kabloom yellow Calibrachoa seeds.
I have not grown these from seed before.

Expensive - eh? Too rich for my blood. They only became available in seed form recently.
I am over wintering 2 planters in my garage.

Weedwhacker said:
Also saw quite a few things in the Baker's Creek catalog that I'd like to order... last year was the first time that I got their catalog and it came after I already had ordered everything, so I didn't pay that much attention to it. This year I'm thinking "why didn't I know about this place before??"

Given your Zone, be careful with Bakers. They often don't show hardiness - pity. I complained - they blew it off with a snarky comment.

Seriously, David?? I thought you were the guy who ignores the zones! (on the other hand, I could be thinking of someone else entirely, if so -- sorry!)

At any rate -- I'm mostly thinking of veggies, and mainly tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and the like. I'm trying to find more OP varieties that will do well for me, and they have a great selection!

Yes - I ignore Zones. That's me.

Lotsa peeps buy seeds from a MO company and expect they will grow in MO. Lotsa peeps are not as bright as me and many of us here at ATP. It is UNFAIR to them - particularly from a compnay like Baker to not give them fair warning. Particularly when they sell something as a Perennial but neglect to tell you Zone 7 and above. There simply is NO excuse for it. Bakers didn't start yesterday - they are a multi-multi-multi million $ company.

Some other places to check out Johnys Selected Seed and Stokes.

I totally agree that the zone range should be given for perennials! I wonder why they don't do that??

I think one of the worst seed catalog deceptions is the "Heirloom Marriage" tomato varieties that are being offered... the only thing many people seem to see when they read that is "heirloom," they don't realize that these are hybrids. (I have nothing against hybrids in general and grow plenty of them; but I don't see any reason to blur the distinction.)

Johnny's is another of my favorites

The catalogs are all fairly full of Marketing ploys--it is buyer beware!
Shop them all, and compare the number of seeds per packet.

That's very true, Caroline -- their first interest is selling seeds and making money, after all...

@Weedwhacker - a great source for heirloom veggies is SeedSavers. They have one of the larger selections.

http://www.seedsavers.org/

I'm there, too! (hard to get away from me, isn't it )

SSE is not only an incredible source for rare and heirloom seeds, but there is also lots of great information there about saving seeds and the like.

"Ignoring Zones altogether"

I agree with both halves of what David was saying or implying.

Gardeners SHOULD ignore conventional wisdom at least some of the time - that's the only way we progress or at least disprove popular misconceptions. (If you might lose the farm with one mistake, following conventional wisdom might be more wise.)

But ignoring "what everyone says" is not the same as being ignorant of it. If you're trying to break new ground, it helps to know that there might be alligators in that swamp.

How can you ignore or defy the alleged facts effectively if you don't know what they are? If "everyone thinks something", there is probably SOME reason for it. And fore-warned is fore-armed.

(I don't know why having fore-arms is so important, but I guess it is. They do keep your gloves off your elbows.)

I got my 2016 Seed Saver Catalog today.

Horntoad said:I got my 2016 Seed Saver Catalog today.

Me too!

Love those African Sunset petunias, Caroline.

I also am crazy over yellow/purple (blue) combinations. I think it may have been Park seeds that had a blue/yellow petunia combination that I loved.

I'm always disappointed when some of the bicolored plants (such as petunias) end up reverting to all of one color. The best luck I've had is with some of the Proven Winner plants. I absolutely loved their Pretty Much Picasso--held up well as a bicolor all season long. Unfortunately, must buy plants.......no seeds

I grew the Kablooms last year and had really good luck with them. I will overwinter the plants in the GH and start more seeds this spring. I bought a very expensive, large package and a smaller package. I have put the yellow ones on my wishlist for this year. If you compare what a plant costs to what a seed costs, it's much cheaper and I love the Calibrachoa in my planters.

I have Harris, Johnny's, Twilleys catalogs so far. I already placed my order with Baker Creek without the catalog this year. I really don't need seeds but I always find a couple I just have to have!

Do the calibrachoa do well in a full-sun, southern exposure? I'd love to put them in my deck railing flower boxes!

@Weedwhacker That's where I have mine. Deck planters - full sun all day (roughly 9 AM - 5 PM mid Summer). I over wintered them in my garage last year and they did fine. Two planters. I have them there again this year.

Calibrachoa is expensive here. I have checked out the seeds, but the prices are beyond absurd.