Here are some I use and have had good luck with ...
Baker Creek, Burpee, Thompson and Morgan, Swallowtail, Victory Heirloom Seeds, Park, Wayside Gardens

Totally Tomatoes, Gurneys.

There are also some on-line places, don't know if they issue catalogs or not:

Seedsforthee.com, Heirloomveggieseeds.com, Freetreesandplants.com, fedcoseeds.com, artisticgardens.com, superseeds.com, valueseeds.com.

There are so many out there, and I like different ones for different types of seeds or other gardening supplies. Here's a few, not listed in any particular order:

Renee's Garden: www.reneesgarden.com
Renee often has mixed packets of several varieties, and uses a non-toxic food coloring type dye to distinguish one variety within a packet from another

J. W. Jung Seed Co.: www.jungseed.com
Great selection of flower and vegetable seeds.

Pinetree Garden Seeds: www.superseeds.com
Offers smaller seed packets at a lower cost so you can try more varieties at less expense.

Baker Creek Heiroom Seeds: www.rareseeds.com
A wonderful source for heirlooms. Based in Missouri.

Seed Savers Exchange: www.seedsavers.org
The original heirloom seed source. Pretty much every current company selling heirloom seeds owes their success to SSE's long mission of saving heirloom seeds and passing them along. There is a public SSE catalog and, with membership in the organization, you have access to thousands of varieties of rare heirloom seeds.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange: www.southernexposure.com
Another terrific source for heirlooms, especially those that are suited to the southern climate.

Sandhill Preservation Center: www.sandhillpreservation.com
A one-family operation that has an amazing variety of heirloom seeds. Nothing they sell is old--I think all their seed is less than 2 years old, which is very rare in the seed world. Also a great source for heirloom poultry and sweet potatoes.

Johnny's Selected Seeds: www.johnnyseeds.com
Wonderful company. Great seeds and great customer service.

Select Seed: www.selectseeds.com
Aside from SSE, this is THE source for heirloom flowers.

Victory Seeds: www.victoryseeds.com
Outstanding source for heirloom varieties. Fantastic customer service. Very careful to provide an completely accurate history of each variety they sell, if the history is known. Source for Livingston tomatoes.

Tomato Growers Supply Company: www.tomatogrowers.com
One of my favorite tomato seed companies.

Wildseed Farms: wwww.wildseedfarms.com
Based in Texas, this is the go-to supplier of wildflower seeds.

Willhite Seed: www.willhiteseed.com
Based in Texas, they have a wide variety of both heirlooms and hybrids that grow well in this part of the country. Outstanding selection of watermelons, which are their specialty.

Seeds of Change: www.seedsofchange.com
Heirloom veggies and flowers and more.

Native Seeds/SEARCH: www.nativeseeds.org
Similar to SSE, but their focus is on crops raised by native people in the US and Mexico. If you garden in a dry climate, this is a great source because many of these varieties can handle heat and drought.

Marianna's Heirloom Seeds: www.mariseeds.com
A small heirloom tomato (and pepper) seed company. Some unique seeds that you can't find anywhere else.

Territorial Seed: www.territorialseed.com
Based in the Pacific Northwest. Excellent selection and one of the few companies that offers specific varieties for winter gardening in milder climates.

Harris Seed: www.harrisseeds.com
Great selection of vegetable and flower seed and seed-starting supplies.

Peaceful Valley Farm Supply: www.groworganic.com
Everything you need to garden organically. Great supply of cover crop seed.

Thompson and Morgan: www.thompson-morgan.com
Offers seeds of many unique varieties. One of my favorite sources for datura and brugmansia seed.

Vermont Bean Seed Company: www.vermontbean.com
Lots and lots of bean seeds but other stuff as well.

Totally Tomatoes: www.totallytomato.com
I like Tomato Growers Supply Co. a little better, but Totally Tomatoes has a few varieties you can only get from them.

Seeds From Italy: www.growitalian.com
As far as I know, this is the only US source for the European seeds offered by Franchi Simenti Seed. Co. I love the seeds they offer, but you have to read the descriptions carefully to find the ones that are "unique". Some of them are the same seeds sold here in the US under American names.

I tend to stay away from the big companies with their very slick catalogs and fancier hybrids and higher prices, and buy more from smaller companies that offer heirloom varieties (including some heirloom hybrids) or more unusual seed.

I just got catalogs from Burpee and from Henry Fields. The only reason I buy from them is because they come with a coupon that gives you $25 off if you buy $50. I'm thinking I'll buy some jerusalem artichokes this year and this might be the way to do it. In the past, I have bought berry bushes this way. I thought the blueberry plants were kind of small but after I saw how small the blueberry plants were that I bought from Atwood's and Lowe's, the ones purchased by mail were large by comparison. I never saw anything so ridiculous in my life as those blueberry plants from Atwood's and Lowe's. Packed in a long peat-filled tubular bag, probably about a foot long, when the plant itself was only about 6 inches long and that included the part that stuck out of the bag. I've been pleased with other plants I've bought from them, don't know why the blueberry plants aren't packed more realistically.

The catalogs that arrived today are Territorial, R. H. Shumway and the Seed Savers Exchange 2008 Harvest Edition.

After a busy day in the kitchen, I have just (finally!) sat down and haven't had a chance to even look at them yet. I haven't ordered from Shumway in 4 or 5 years, but love their old-fashioned illustrations and layout. It makes me feel like I am looking at a seed catalog from 75 years ago. The Territorial Seed catalog is very thick--168 pages--so you can really while away the hours with it.

The Seed Savers Exchange 2008 Harvest Edition was preceded by their public catalog by about 2 or 3 weeks. The Harvest Edition is really news, articles, speeches, etc. and it is great reading throughout the winter. It also features photos of the damage done to Heritage Farm in June 2008. A long, slow recovery is still in the early stages. I look forward to reading the Harvest Edition as I always learn so much from it.

I still am on the fence about what to plant, and need a lot more moisture to fall before I decide how much to invest in a spring garden. The drought just hangs on and on. I still can spend a lot of time looking through the catalogs too, although there's never really much "new" anymore. You can always tell when one of the few remaining large wholesale seed suppliers has marketed a "new" variety, whether it is a new hybrid or O.P./heirloom because it pops up as a "new" offering in many catalogs at the same time. There are very few 'exclusive' offerings any more, although Park and Burpee often have something exclusive....for which you'll usually pay dearly.

Ilene, I imagine there is a reason the blueberry plants are always so small and suspect Scott knows the reason why. I always plant the smallest trees possible, though, usually transplanting 12" to 18" oak saplings from the woods. In just a few years, they have grown a great deal and will outgrow purchased trees that were in 10-gallon pots. I think it has to do with their roots and tops being more-or-less equal, whereas container-grown or containerized trees have too much top and too little root which makes them have more trouble with transplant shock/recovery when transplanted. Maybe it is something similar with the blueberries.

Dawn

My favorites have already been listed, but as a second I have had great luck with Seeds of Change (everything comes true and their seeds seem to be pretty fresh), Park and Burpee are good for annual flower varieties and the seeds are reliable. Territorial Seed has a great selection of veggies (not so much for flowers), but I found that the germination rate for Territorial is not as good as Seeds of Change, at least in past years - though I still order from them. Actually, Ed Hume is pretty good, believe it or not, and I think they're online (I lived in the NW where Hume and Territorial are everywhere). Right now, I'm drooling over Thompson & Morgan's catalogue...they have some wonderful selections.

Thanks, Dawn, for your list. I've just ordered a bunch of new catalogues since many of the companies were new to me!

Lovetotweet,

You're welcome. One day soon I'll post a list of some of the more obscure and less well-known seed companies because they often have some of the more interesting seeds.

I love SOC too, and Ed Hume always has great prices.

I always drool over T&M too. Everything in their catalog always looks so tempting.

Dawn

The latest catalogs to arrive at our home this week are from Burpee, The Cook's Garden, Seeds of Change, Johnny's Selected Seeds and King Arthur Flour. Obviously, the Kind Arthur Flour catalog is not about gardening, but I can gain 10 lbs. just looking at the baked goods and featured recipes.

I'll be able to flip through Burpee pretty fast, as it does not change that much from year to year and their seeds have gotten pretty pricey, especially for anything new or exclusive to their catalog. I mean no disrespect towards Burpee, but most of the 'new' seeds I've bought from them the last few years haven't been special enough to warrant the prices they now charge. Porterhouse and Brandy Boy tomatoes, though, are exceptions as they are worth every penny. Johnny's, though, will keep me busy for hours.

And, another thing about Burpee that Bill P. and I both noticed either last year or the year before was that, if we purchased seeds from the catalog for the higher price, we'd get, say, 30 tomato seeds for whatever they were charging then--probably about $4.00 a packet. However, if we purchased the exact same variety from the Burpee rack at Wal-Mart, for example, the price was lower but you only got maybe 9 to 11 tomato seeds. So, you had to buy several packets off the in-store seed rack and the in-store seeds ended up costing more per seed than the ones in the catalog.

If you are fairly new to growing vegetables, herbs or flowers from seed, all you have to do is request a copy of Johnny's catalog. At the beginning of each section, they have a "Growing Information" area that tells you how to raise the plants inside to eventually transplant outside or how to sow seed outdoors, how to combat pests and diseases specific to that type of plant, how and when to harvest, how to store, days to maturity, and seed specs. This info is more helpful than that found in many veggie "how to" books, because it is very specific.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Johnny's Selected Seeds

I don't know if anyone has mentioned Stokes seeds. They offer a wide variety of seed with excellent information regarding germination times, disease resistance etc....And too, before you make any major purchases from any gardening mail order company you might be wise to check The Garden Watchdog to see what other customers think about this company. For instance in 2007 Johnny's Selected Seeds had it's computer files hacked and all the customer credit card information was put at risk. And there's other information on this site that tells you who owns whom ( for instance: Jungs and RH Shumway are affiliated companies). If you have a bad experience with one company it's just possible you may have the similar experience with it's affiliate. It pays to keep updated even on companies you've counted on for years.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Watchdog

Mary, I use the watchdog website a lot too.

Today's catalog arrivals are:

Select Seeds (heirloom flowers), which is 64 pages of gorgeous beauty. I get many of my flower seeds from this catalog. Among the plants or seeds tempting me this year are Brugmansia 'Jean Pasco', Four O'Clock 'Pink Pinwheel' (similar to 'Broken Colors' or 'Marrakesh' except only magenta and white), California Poppy 'Jelly Beans' and several other poppies that look very tempting, like "Berries and Cream", "Black Swan" and "Lauren's Grape".

The other catalog is more of a supply catalog and it is from a division of FarmTek called Growers Supply. (www.growersSupply.com). This catalog has everything for serious growers from greenhouses and high tunnels to floating row covers/frost blankets and pond liners to watering systems, fencing, netting, sprayers, pest control products, heat mats, etc.

Dawn