Let’s Order Seeds!!
I dedicated all of my garden beds to flowers this year. I didn’t want to give up any space to grow vegetables, since there wasn’t a ton of square footage to go around. This next year, I’m hoping to expand my flowers with more raised beds, and maybe I’ll dedicate some of the shadier areas around the house to root vegetables. I’m in the process of finding a hydroponic set up for other vegetables, so that I can have access to it year round. I think it’s something that could be so beneficial to people up in Alaska, and I’d like to see how cost-effective and user-friendly it is. If I get something set up, you’ll be the first to know! For now, we obsess with flowers, haha…
For 2023, I didn’t really know what I was doing. I ordered a bunch of heat-loving annuals that I quickly realized weren’t worth the effort this season. Those got mailed down to my mom in Montana, and space was primarily dedicated to things that had a much higher chance of succeeding for me. Cold-Hardy Annuals and Dahlia Tubers. If you google it, the list of Hardy Annuals that you initially find is less than inspiring. As someone who’s always just gotten my seeds from the grocery store, Sunflowers were old news, pansies were boring, and Snap Dragons were kind of tacky. But oh my gosh, there are so many amazing varieties out there if you branch out to companies selling heirloom and specialty seeds. Like, oh my gosh, so freaking gorgeous. I put a list below of where I’ve found amazing seeds from. All these companies had the qualities you’d be looking for. Great customer service when I needed it, great products with good germination rates, fast and organized shipping, and generally smaller family-owned companies. Pretty cool.
Where I ordered my seeds, tubers, and roots for next season:
Adeline’s Peonies: excellent customer service
True Leaf Market: A lot of organic varieties with great germination rates
SeedsNow: High quality seeds more focused on produce than flowers.
Swallow Tail Gardens: *These next three most likely have any seed you’re after.
Floret: Amazing Library of flower varieties
Bear Creek Farm: —*The rest of these are where I’ve ordered Dahlia tubers from.
Dahlia Addict: It’s worth getting a subscription to this site if you’re going to start ordering dahlia tubers often.
Cold Hard Annuals that did well for me this year:
Snap Dragons: I ordered more aesthetically pleasing, not good smelling varieties. Amazing. You can also get shorter or taller varieties.
Icelandic Poppies: These are a spring bloom. So precious, but not a long vase life. Direct sow them, they despise transplanting.
Shirley Poppies: Same as Icelandic, as far as growing, but the blooms look more like an anemone. Short vase life.
Breadseed Poppies: Grow these for the seed pods. Cute fluffy blooms, but fade fast.
Pansies: There are a TON of varieties. Super hardy flowers.
Violas: Same as pansies for growing, just teeny tiny blooms. So cutesen tootsen.
Straw Flowers: Late bloomers, but they make amazing dried flowers.
Bachelor Buttons: Honestly, not a huge fan. They grew great, so I’d recommend them if you’re starting out, I just didn’t really like them. They’re edible though!
Nasturtiums: These TOOK OVER my garden beds, so be careful. There are way more color variations than I thought. All orange, but a large variety within that. They were hogging the sun, but they also helped with aphid control.
Tender Annuals that did surprisingly well:
Cosmos: I kept these covered during the cold spring, but they freaking took off once it got warm. Foliage is a great bouquet filler.
Other miscellaneous plants:
Geraniums: I bring the same one back out every year. She’s an old friend now.
Day Lillies: Same as my geranium. Basically no upkeep for these rockstars. I just keep them in a big planter, and bring it into the garage every winter.
Fuschia: Always a front porch fave.
Creeping Thyme: These smell so good and have the tiniest little blooms.
Begonias: Another easy one for colder climates.
If you’re having a hard time staying on track for getting everything outside in time to bloom before our short season is up, making a sowing calendar is super helpful. Working full time only gives me so many days off, so if I can plan ahead and group seed sowing together, I might actually stand a chance of staying on top of it.
I’ve expanded my list for next year already. Since my cosmos did so well, I’m going to try some other tender annuals (fingers crossed). I also ordered a bunch of peony roots, more hardy annuals, and WAY more dahlia tubers.
I hope this information helps! I’d also love to hear what varieties have worked for you. I’m betting you might have something that’s not on this list!
