The 8 Best Places to Buy High-Quality Seeds for Your Garden—Plus, Where You Can Nab Them for FREE
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With spring firmly on the horizon, there's a lot to look forward to, from lighter jackets and longer days (finally!) to refreshing spritzes al fresco. After a long winter, the arrival of spring feels a bit like a sigh of relief. Another great perk? Gardening season is back!
Whether you're a first-time grower or an experienced green thumb, there's no better time than this year to start cultivating the garden of your dreams. Prepping your space and cultivating healthy soil is a natural place to start, but you'll also need to shop for seeds, which is a task that can be more complicated than it seems.
If you've ever wandered into a garden center or shopped online, you know how overwhelming it can be to choose the right plants for your garden. With so many options out there—heirlooms, hybrids, and organic varieties, just to name a few—it can feel like a bit of a gamble to just grab whatever seed packs are at your local hardware store and hope for the best.
The first step is making a plan for your garden. Maybe you're envisioning a fragrant flower bed, a vibrant vegetable patch, or a convenient kitchen herb garden. Whatever your plans, finding high-quality seeds is the first step toward cultivating a garden that thrives. The good news? There are several places to score top-tier seeds, each with their own specialties and perks (think cold hardiness, moisture adaptability, and more). Below, we're rounding up some of our favorite green thumb destinations to help you make the garden of your dreams a reality.
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Johnny's Select Seeds
A totally comprehensive place to stock your garden for the season, Johnny's Select Seeds is known for its wide selection and commitment to quality. The decades-old brand has spent years cultivating a wide-reaching collection of varietals, all without any genetic engineering or modification. Shop a wide range of categories for fruits, vegetables, and flowers (including certified organic seeds, heirloom seeds, and hybrid seeds). Or, narrow down the selection by the USDA Zone you reside in to make planning for garden success easier. Bonus: Johnny's Select Seeds boasts a robust Growing Center with videos and resources on starting seeds, succession planting, planning calculators and more.
Eden Brothers
Though it started as a destination for flower growers, Eden Brothers has evolved into an all-purpose shop for anyone to buy all types of seeds, from wildflower mixes and perennial plants to organic vegetables and off-beat heirloom varietals. The brand is an especially good option for anyone who considers themselves a beginner grower; not only is the selection great, but every seed page boasts copious amounts of information, from how to plant and care for your seedlings to how big you can expect your plant to get to when to harvest it. Need a bit more help? Eden Brothers' How to Start a Garden section will guide you step-by-step throughout the season to ensure you have a bumper crop your very first try.
Burpee
Burpee is perhaps the best-known name in hobby gardening, and it's not difficult to see why. Their seeds are reliable and easy to access, with many available in-store at your local hardware shop or garden center. Shopping for seeds online? You'll have your pick of thousands of varietals, from go-to classics including Sungold tomatoes to unique hybrids such as Purplesnax carrots. Their vast selection even includes gardening gear, so you can bundle fertilizer, frost protection, composter, and even raised beds, into your purchase. Translation: Burpee is your one-stop-shop to get your garden up and growing this season.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
If you're hoping to cultivate the most unique garden on the block, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds is where you'll want to shop. Bundled under the Rare Seeds company name, the Missouri purveyor dedicates its inventory to advancing heirloom seed preservation and sustainable farming practices through comprehensive research and breeding. Absolute beginners and garden-curious readers take note: In general, heirloom varietals can be a bit more difficult to grow, so you'll want to know your soil from your compost before going off the beaten path and ordering unique seeds from Baker. Once you're ready to experiment, their seeds will deliver top-tier color, flavor, and a unique appeal that you just can't get anywhere else.
Shop Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
American Meadows
If you harbor floral-covered fantasies about growing your own cut flower garden, you'll want to click "add to cart" on everything on American Meadows'site. Uniquely geared toward the art of growing blooms, American Meadows is the destination for anyone looking to cultivate a sustainable, meadow-inspired landscape in their own yard. Choose from hundreds of different varietals, from summer favorites like Cosmos to stunning fall dahlias. Even better, American Meadows makes choose-your-own adventure gardening easy, with dedicated wildflower collections unique to each state and pre-planned gardens that are just about as foolproof as it gets.
Hudson Valley Seed Co.
Northeast growers will love shopping from one of their own via Hudson Valley Seed Co., which grants access to organic, locally-sourced seeds that perform beautifully. Though their inventory is not as expansive as some of the more corporate seed suppliers, they still have a generous range of vegetables, flowers, and plants available, from Adirondack Blue Potatoes to wild broccoli rabe developed in New Jersey. Hudson Valley Seed Co. is the ideal way to support local growers without having to hunt your seed packs down individually.
Park Seed
Founded way back in 1868, Park Seed has the know-how and the extensive selection to get your garden up and running successfully this season. They sell more than 1,200 different varieties of vegetables, fruits, flowers, and plants—plus an ample selection of tools and supplies to make sure you're well-stocked before breaking ground. The site also frequently offers generous markdowns, making it feasible to start a seed collection from scratch without breaking the bank. If you need a little AI hand-holding, Park Seed even offers a Grow Bot you can download to your phone to answer your questions 24/7, from What are these green bugs on my plant? to How much compost do my tomatoes need?
Ferry-Morse
Trusted by gardeners since 1856, Ferry-Morse offers seeds that are 100% GMO-free, as well as 100% non-neonic, which means they don't contain harmful insecticides that can be fatal for bees and other invertebrates. Simply put, Ferry-Morse seeds are kind to the planet and your gardening efforts, with a wide selection of categories to choose from, including flowers, vegetables, fruits, and herbs. Their newest offering, flower seed mixes, showcases 50 different collections of wildflower seed packs, each of which contains 400,000-440,000 seeds that will appeal to pollinators and add a beautiful burst of color to your backyard all season long.
Your Local Library
Looking for a seed shopping solution close to home? Try heading to your local library. Come spring, many institutions make a seed library available to their patrons, where you can pick up seeds free of charge that have been donated by companies or local seed savers in your area. Just a note: Their stockpile tends to disappear fast, so make sure you pencil a visit in for late winter/very early spring (i.e. right now) so you get your pick of the crop.
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