Not sure what you have been reading but I find any number of paper catalogs to be reliable although the majority of my business is done online. Johnny's, Baker Creek, Territorial, Tomato Growers Supply, High Mowing, Peaceful Valley, Seeds of Change, ro name just a few. And for common varieties I use Parks and Gurneys with no problems.

Dave

Dawn, seed primarily for what? And I ask b/c some seed vendors specialize in this or that and some try to cover the waterfront, as it were, with seeds for almost everything.

Carolyn

Pinetree seeds tops my list, Baker Creek, High Mowing, Seed Savers Exchange, Johnny's, and Territorial are all nice too, though some of them are rather expensive.

I suppose it kind of depends on what you mean when you say reliable. Do you mean GMO or not, service, quality of seed, reliability to provide consistent the same seed or to not change seed names, provide good information and/or images?

I need to update this list, but it should have url's for most of the suppliers.

http://www.selectedplants.com/seedsupplies.htm

with the advent of the internet , printed catalogs are becoming something of the past. Then there are seeded sold by the big box store that include major players like Burpee, Ferry Morse, Ed Hume and few other specialized in organic lines.

Having said all that, I buy most of my seeds off the rack or through internet stores. Lately I have found this small family owned seed vender called Sample Seeds Shop. They have most seeds that I need at a very reasonable price and shipping. At the moment I have a pending order with them. They have a petty good selection of tomato and peppers and vegetables.

One thing about Burpee: Their internet prices are way way too high but when they stock up on the BBS prices are reasonable.

Seysonn

Sorry, sidelined by holidays.

Reliable to me means properly labeled seeds - the are the variety they are supposed to be, accurately stated as to GMO, organic, etc. Carefully grown and harvested to eliminate accidentally crossbreeding and/or mis-packaging.

Fairy tales can be nice but not in my seed catalogs! LOL

Pictures are nice but not necessarily helpful considering all that can go wrong at the printers w pics getting switched and color problems when printing and all that..

Maybe I'm old school but I prefer a print catalog to drool over. Online just isn't the same, although I am okay with ordering online after I have made my decision.

Dawn

the are the variety they are supposed to be, accurately stated as to GMO, organic, etc. Carefully grown and harvested to eliminate accidentally crossbreeding and/or mis-packaging.

Assuming we are talking about tomato seeds on this forum then any company that labels theirs as GMO or non-GMO would be very misleading as there are none available and I'd be inclined to mistrust them about all their info. It is simply a label that isn't applicable to tomato seed.

Most any reputable supplier will offer accurate packaging and crossbreeding protection in so far as it is humanly possible. But since it isn't 100% possible in even the most carefully controlled environments, never getting a cross-bred or mis-labeled seed is an unrealistic expectation.

The best hope for meeting your definition of "reliable" is to do it all yourself - buy a certified seed, grow it yourself organically, bag the blooms and hand pollinate, and then save the seeds from the resulting fruit using your own sorting and labeling process. Even then you'll get some errors but by year 5 your reliability for that variety should be close to 98%. :)

If you feel "organic seeds" is vital then the "organic" label is easy to verify if you only buy from certified and licensed organic growers.

The real problem with print catalogs is that they have to go to the printers so early in the season that much of the info is outdated or simply copied from the previous year catalog, or is "guesswork" (about new varieties) before they are even published. Online sites are kept more current and accurate and subject to peer review and correction.

Dave

Pine Tree is another good seed company from ME. I like the fact that you can buy small amounts like for $1.50. They even tell you the number of seeds even for the lettuce. Example this year Tom Thumb lettuce 500 seeds for $150. I bought from them several times and was well satisfied! I start a lot of seeds in my solar greenhouse! Tomato seeds from them Black Brandywine 25 seeds $1.50.

For one catalog, Johnny's Seeds is the most complete for me. I wish they sold grafted tomatoes in household numbers though. No one has everything, but if I could use only one catalog, Johnny's Seeds is the one.

Visit the following website...lady is from Russia, now resides in Canada. I purchased several difficult to locate varieties to try this year (2015).

http://tatianastomatobase.com/wiki/Main_Page

After a couple of years of trying different catalogs, I tend to use Tomato Grower's Supply for my tomatoes and eggplants, Johnny's for just about everything else, and Park's/Burpee for a couple of flower seeds I haven't seen anywhere else.

I also really like Territorial and Seed Savers.

I've also noticed that the catalogs seem to be coming out earlier every year. I like that. If they arrive before Christmas, I stuff them in my bag and read them on the plane while heading off for the holidays.

I like territorial when ordering a large amount of seed for their flat rate shipping and I have always been pleased with the quality. For trying a new variety pine tree is good for their cheap small packets. For specialty stuff I like southern exposure seed exchange and seed savers. I probably do too much, but that's the fun of it.