Super Eco

Photo credit: LollyKnit, flickr

Junk mail? Not my seed catalogs! Every year around mid-winter the stream of gardener-porn begins to flow and it doesn't dry up until summer. From bare root fruit trees to flowering bulbs, from heritage vegetables to the latest hybrids, I could buy everything I'll need for a season using the order forms tucked in each catalog and a roll of postage stamps. All of these unsolicited sendings are printed on dead trees and I recycle them, but only after I've had a peek at what they offer. The catalogs get me in the garden planning mood. They tickle my imagination. But the stream seems to be drying up.

Last night I looked for my Park Seed Catalog. I love the Park catalog. Park carries all kinds of seeds. Their catalog is a collection of enough flowers and vegetables that a gardener might never have to shop anywhere else. Beth said, "We haven't gotten a Park catalog for years." They stopped sending the catalog when we shifted to online ordering, I guess. Smart move? Maybe not. I use the catalogs to make a wish list and then I order online.

Almost everyone's inventory is available online. Cyndi Johnson has the authoritative list, Cyndi's Catalog of Garden Catalogs. Ordering online is so much easier than the whole snail mail thing—filling out the order forms, calculating your own shipping and tax expenses, writing checks.

Yesterday I received a catalog from Chief River Nursery. The layout of the catalog is perfect for comparison shopping. Beth and I will sit down with it one night soon and decide how many tree seedlings we want to plant for the deer to eat this year. But when it's time to order, we'll go online.