Just guessing, but I would assume Lowes buys them in huge quantities getting a much lower price than you could buying one or two packs. That also allows them to sell the same packs for less.

The Burpee of today is not your grandfather's Burpee and hasn't been for many years. The family sold the business to General Foods in 1970 and it has since been sold at least 2 additional times to various corporations. Don't know off hand who owns it now.

Sadly you have discovered just one of the many reasons why many gardeners will no longer deal with them and while many stores no longer carry their seeds. There have been several past discussions about them and their prices and problems that a search using 'Burpee' will pull up if you wish to read through them.

Dave

Roger, See that's what I was thinking. However, I was also thinking that with excess quantity come reduced quality. I know that's been the case many times with places such as walmart. Companies will cut corners in order to make the product more marketable.

I think Monsanto owns them now. i have bought their pks from Wal-Mart and had bad luck with germination. Also there is less in each pk than off the web site.
i ordered from them a few years back and the quality was very poor for fruit and nut trees.

So where should I get my seeds?

I don't use Burpee's unless I can not find the seed anywhere else. They are way high priced and you get very few seeds per packet. I learned this several years ago. Haven't been back since.

Jay

Burpee is now owned by George Ball. The seed rack division seems to be different from the mailorder/internet division. If you notice carefully there are varieties on the seed racks that not available from the mailorder division. Contact them and they have no idea what you are talking about. No problem with the seeds. Internet/mail order has very expensive since Ball took over, but the seed racks have remained competitive with Ferry Morse, the other seed rack distributor in this area. Competition may be the reason. Most retailers are looking for the best deal for themselves. I have not ordered from Burpee since the last Burpee (Clement) sold out and left to sell commercial vegetable seeds.

GardenBoy

As far as I'm concerned, the only reason for Burpee's existence is their Brandyboy tomato and their Early Hybrid Crenshaw, which they have exclusive rights to and you can't buy anywhere else. I think that's all I've bought from them in the last 15 or 20 years.

Where should you get your seeds? We've had numerous GW posts listing online seed vendors that we've found to be reliable and inexpensive with seeds and shipping. If you can find something that you want on the Burpee racks, I say go for it. One year I found BrandyBoy seeds at about half the price they had online, and they were the same tomato, perhaps somewhat fewer seeds, but I wasn't complaining.

I really suspect that places like Burpee and Park Seeds, which charge so much money for seeds and then add insult to injury with high shipping charges, have led many of us to heirloom seeds a lot faster than we might have gone otherwise. You don't have to worry about who owns the right to sell those and many are every bit as good as hybrids sold by "big agribusiness", which includes some commercial seed companies.

Gardenboy,
If you are a home gardener, and don't need 100 tomato seeds, try PineTree Seeds (www.superseeds.com). Their selection of vegetable and flower seeds is excellent, the packets are sized for the home gardener, and shipping is inexpensive. Totally Tomatoes (www.totallytomato.com)has a good selection of seeds for more than tomatoes, and shipping isn't expensive. If you want herbs, try Le Jardin du Gourmet, also known as Artistic Gardens (www.ArtisticGardens.com). They have an amazing array of herb seeds and shipping again is reasonable.
There is no reason to limit yourself and your garden to what is on the shelf at a big box. Anyway, cruising through the on-line catalogs is a lot of fun!

Anney; lots of vendors sell Burpee's Early Hybrid Crenshaw, I get mine http://www.merrifieldgardencenter.com/products.php?openparent=1090&pid=
Brandy Boy tomato is still a Burpee exclusive, but lots of vendors are offering their own versions of hybrid Brandywine.
As Marlin stated there is a huge variety available from Mail order/Internet sources. Seed racks regardless of source or location are somewhat restricted.

I've been buying my seeds from Gurney's for a couple years now. Although they are expensive, the germination rate of the seeds has totally amazed me. I've had near 100% germination.

Don

farmerdilla

I didn't know other vendors sell Burpee's Early Hybrid Crenshaw! Thanks for the heads-up. I'll keep an eye out.

I decided this year to see if I could find a substitute for BrandyBoy among the heirlooms, with similar taste and production. I received lots of suggestions, including, of course, Brandywine itself, and this year I'm trying three or four versions, including a Brandywine that a GardenWebber said he'd grown not far from here for 20 years. So maybe I'll find something I'll be happy with and can give up my reliance on BrandyBoy, which really is a good tomato in my book. Though there are certainly others, too.

I'm trying an open-pollinated Crenshaw this year, too, in hopes that I can let Burpee go entirely!

Gardenboy, - as others have said there are literally hundreds of past discussions here about where to by seeds online. A search will pull some of them up for you if interested.

But if you prefer to buy local off the rack then check other sources such as Wal-Mart, local nursery, Ace Hardware, farm & feed stores, Tractor Supply, Menards, etc. They all carry seed racks from vendors other than Burpee.

Dave

The only packet of burpee seed I ever bought was this year and every single habanaro germinated that was from the seed rack not mail order

I bought and grew alot of Burpee seeds from local seedracks, most at 30% or 40% off the much lower starting price printed on the seed packs. That made them very reasonably priced and they grew well.

I met a Burpee sales rep restocking racks at a local nursery. He said that Walmart, Menards, Lowes, etc, etc. contract with Burpee to get particular varieties for their stores. Some varieties they carry, he cannot sell to the independents that he deals with. Many catalog varieties aren't available to him either. He hinted that they were seeds in low supply...don't know if I believe that. Last year one of the big box store's assortment included Brandy Boy. I picked up a few during a sale. No other Burpee racks in town had them. Walmart had a tomato assortment I didn't see anywhere else. This year there is a Burpee zinnia I've seen at just one store that I may be growing for my daughter's wedding. More reason to stop and peruse every seed rack you see :) The salesman said that Target's Sean Conway line and Kmart's Martha Stewart seeds (discontinued now)were through Burpee. They also handle Cooks Garden seeds...not sure if they were Burpee seeds packed under that name or Cooks Garden seeds packed by Burpee or maybe only marketed by their salespeople.

Seems like most the discount store cheap seed packs have Plantation Products in small print behind a variety of other "Brand" names. Guess there aren't as many suppliers as it looks like.

Anyway....the advice for lower cost seed sources you received already is good. Fedco is another to take a look at online. Keep your eyes open when out and about and you may discover quite abit available locally. I like to support the local stores when possible even if I'm buying a nationally distibuted product.

Our local farm store also has stands of Burpee seed as well. The average price is about 40% off the price of the package price.

But, the best deal is those labeled at $1.79 - as they sell them for only $1.00. Then it jumps and those labeled for $1.99 sell for $1.49.

I like the Best Boy tomato from Burpee and this year I'm going to try the Super Sugar Snap peas - since it appears the variety of peas I got from FedCo seeds may have a problem with them.

I can't really complain about the cost of Burpee seeds in the store - as they are not too bad. But the cost of seeds online is ridiculous.

This year I reached out and bought from FedCo Seeds. I got about 20 packages of seed - with shipping - for about $25. The nice thing about FedCo is they were still cheaper than the Burpee stand at the local store! The seed packets were about twice the size for just a little bit more.

Here is a link that might be useful: BsnTech Gardening Blog

By from Baker Creek Heirloom seed and keep the seed. Only buy once. Shipping is great and service is excellent. Choices are out of this world.see. www.rareseeds.com