Hazzards has both a commercial and home gardener section to their site. if you select the home gardener section you can order smaller quantities. I find Swallowtail seeds has an above average selection of many types also.

https://inhabitat.com/93-percent-of-the-worlds-seed-diversity-has-vanished-the-last-century/

Without doubt, seed sellers have been 'rationalising' their inventories, year on year. For those of us who are still committed to growing our own plants, we do have some responses by way of seed saving, swaps and plant societies.

Hi Rosa,

Your link has a rather remarkable statement that,

" 93 percent of seed varieties from the early 20th century have disappeared."

At first, that seems counterintuitive, but that may very well be true.

In my own specialty, zinnias, there used to be a strain called Fantasy that disappeared sometime in the early 1900s. And as I recall, there was another strain, somewhat small-flowered, that also disappeared. Fantasy zinnias actually won some awards, and I was quite puzzled by their disappearance from the marketplace.

Fantasy zinnias had curved down-rolled petals that made their name somewhat appropriate. Maybe I shouldn't complain, because new strains of zinnias are now appearing almost yearly. Zinderella zinnias are a recent example. In my zinnia breeding hobby, I have taken note of "Fantasy-like" petal characteristics. As always, you can click on a photo here to see a larger version of it, and you can click on the X in the upper right-hand corner to dismiss the larger view.

I was really sorry that the Fantasy strain of zinnias got discontinued. Maybe someday, some seed company will re-introduce the Fantasy strain of zinnias. I hope so. I have not found any true "Fantasy" examples in my gardens. Only some similarities.

ZM

I wish "Fruitbowl" zinnia seeds were still around. One of the most cheerful flower pics I ever saw was on the cover of annuals book, and it was of the Fruitbowl mix.

Anyway, dummy me had Hazzards commercial bookmarked, not the home grower site. Oh well. At least I got the nierembergia I wanted.

I am the hort guy at a commercial seed company called Ivy Garth Seeds. I have worked there since its inception more than 20 yrs ago. Hazzard's is independently owned but mirrors the seed list at the Garth. There are a couple of companies that sell Ivy Garth seeds on the internet, all separate and independently owned by individuals that have duplicated the inventory on their listings and get seed packages shipped to them from the Garth whenever orders are placed at these mirror companies. I believe Hazard's puts their own label over the original print on the seed packs. They do not warehouse seeds at all. Ivy Garth gets its seeds from all of the major distributers of seeds all over the world and does the packaging, organizing and storing of it in a temperature and humidity controlled environment. The only thing companies like Hazzard's has to do is place an order at the Garth and they receive the pre packaged seed usually within a couple of days - or overnighted if it is a seed emergency! Ivy Garth Seeds only sells to commercial seed growers - nurseries and greenhouses or other seed companies.

There isn't as much variety today because plant trends change and there just wasn't any real interest - or sales of some seed varieties. Any seeds that are consecutively not a good seller are not good to keep in inventory! Breeders producing seeds can have years of bad production due to climate - or wars - that will cause a variety to be put on hiatus and taken off of seed lists too.

I am still in disbelief that the production of Browallia speciosa seeds has stopped due to lack of nurseries and homeowners growing it. Instead of discontinuing it they should have DOUBLED the price of the seed to make it look more desirable and then seed companies would sell a ton of it. Proven Winners sells a browallia that is cutting grown and it is the same as the seed grown variety that is no longer produced.

I personally miss the diversity of seeds that used to be available commercially from the larger seed companies. We have lost some amazing plants that used to be fairly common. Some seed varieties are gone for good. It is a constant cycle, in the future there will be more seed varieties discontinued but there will be others to take their place. Probably not as many as in the past though.

Jeb -- what an informative post, I did not know that about Hazzard's. I just placed an order and one of the items was listed as "we'll order it", so know I know how it all works!

Completely agree about the browallia. I grew the "Troll" series for years, then poof the seeds were no longer available nor were potted plants, then a couple years ago Proven Winners came out with their offering of it. I have nothing against P.W. selling plants and that particular browallia has performed well for me, but dang they're expensive! I can get a whole packet of seeds for what one 4" plant costs.

ETA: Sounds like you've got a really cool job!

Hi mxk3,

" I wish "Fruitbowl" zinnia seeds were still around. "

Wow! You seem to be everywhere. Regarding Fruit Bowl zinnias, I seem to remember them. As I recall, they were a color selection from Cactus Flowered zinnias that eliminated all of the "non-fruit" colors. I think Orchid, White, and Lavender were some of the "non-fruit" colors that were absent. Plant breeding by subtraction is a rather cheap thing to do. Burpee used to have a dahlia flowered zinnia strain called "Fruit Smoothie" with a similarly limited color range, but apparently, they discontinued it. I guess you could pull up a few non-fruity colors from a mixed bed of zinnias and create your own "Fruit Bowl" zinnias. Maybe not.

ZM

Hi Jeb,

Thanks for a very interesting post. Until reading your message, I hadn't heard of the Ivy Garth Seeds company. Hazzard's is right up there in an equal top spot with GeoSeed for me. Both companies are number 1 for me.

ZM

I first noticed the lack of variety during the pandemic. I also noticed the trend toward the big box stores selling single somewhat larger annuals at an up charge, vs offering a good selection of perennials. I suppose with annuals they make more money and keep customers coming back.

I don't shop at big boxes for plants, so can't comment there, but what I have noticed is the move away from flats and toward large pots of annuals and pre-made hanging baskets. This shift started in the early 2000s and has accelerated to the point where it's getting hard to find flats anymore unless it's one of the old standards like impatiens, begonias, marigolds, or petunias, and even then some nurseries are getting smaller and smaller on their offerings. I wouldn't be surprised if flats go the way of the dinosaur eventually. I can understand it, though -- "bedding out" isn't anywhere near as popular in home gardens as it used to be, at least not around here; growing annuals in containers is where it's at now.

Hi mxk3,

"This shift started in the early 2000s and has accelerated to the point where it's getting hard to find flats anymore..."

I noticed the same thing. I used to buy flats of flower seedlings. Petunias were a common selection for me. I have always been a bit scared off by their small seed size. The relatively large size of zinnia seeds probably influenced my decision to pick zinnia breeding as a hobby.

The "good" zinnia seeds are noticeably "fat" even in the green stage. Developing a technique for germinating those fat green seeds helped me speed things up by at least a month.

ZM