Thanks, and welcome to ATP!

>> When my wife and I moved to Washington State (zone 8)

I like Ed Hume as a local seed supplier that often has displays in stores around the area.

Also, Territorial and Johnnie's Seeds.

Say, I'm curious: I've often heard that the coastal PNW has weather "rather like England's". Did you find that to be at all true?

I live on the "wet side", north of Seattle but less than 2 miles from the Sound.

The PNW forum here does cover both "wet" and "dry" Washington state, but we haven't been very active lately. http://garden.org/forums/view/...

Hmmm...Sorry about T & M. Back 40 years ago, I spent hundreds of $ each year with them. They had stuff other people didn't, even though it was more expensive than most.

I can also vouch for Chilterns. Very much like the T &M of old.

Thanks David for recommending Chiltern Seeds! I used to order from T&M years ago but noticed the decline in quality as well. Unfortunately the company in England doesn't ship to the US. But I just checked Chiltern and for a reasonable fee they will ship to the US. You just made my day!

I would love to know the reason for Thompson and Morgan Seeds failing. Are not enough people buying seeds anymore? Is this going to be a trend...seed companies selection going down along with the service? Was it just poor management? Did they try to expand too quickly or did they just not reinvest back in the business and use it for a cash cow? Maybe too many government regulations now involving seeds in particular and business in general?
Well, I guess my questions are more for a business forum rather than here in a gardening forum, but it does make me wonder what the story is behind their failure.

I used to order seeds from T&M waaay back when I first started playing with seeds. They certainly carried some exotics for those interested in greenhouse gardening. It seemed to me that they offered the same things every year with not a lot of new introductions.

Yeah back in the olden days before the Internet, T & M was the go to place to secure rare, exotic or out of the ordinary seed.

Perhaps the Internet was part of doing them in?

Now days, it is fairly easy to secure pretty much anything one can imagine - in terms of seeds. I have found stuff from all over the world and have received seeds from over a dozen countries aside from the USA. Only once had Customs problems - that was Thai seeds coming from India.

I cannot tell you the last time I ordered from T & M (maybe the 90s?) - though a few years ago I happened upon some of their seeds at a local business.

Not before the internet. But it was back in the 90's. Even participated in gardening forums too.