garden,  Vermont

flowers ordered (2021)

Black Eyed Susan

Nasturtium

Zinnia Isabelina

Flowering Tobacco

Strawflower Silvery Rose

Cosmos Double Click

Zinnia Candy Mix

Calendula Ivory

Tickseed Incredible

Ordering seeds is a bit like ordering vitamins because the ordering is the easiest and most optimistic part of the whole relationship.

Some of these are already sold out from Floret, so I share what I ordered this year more as documentation than insistence to buy (though I am using her photos and thus of course linking to her store!). Floret does have an excellent Email When Available feature for some of their seeds–that option worked for all the ones, pictured above, that I wanted to buy this year.

Keep in mind too that you can discover a flower through Floret, and if she’s sold out, you can still try that variety from another flower seed vendor, like Johnny’s or FedCo or someone local to you. It won’t be as perfect as what Floret has sourced and evolved (what can we say, she’s dialed in!), but it will still be a lovely happy flower.

You can also find someone who sells seedlings in the early summer. These are plants that they successfully got from seed to happy plant, and now you get to plant it! The poppies I bought as seedlings had a wonderful year, the poppies I tried to start from seed didn’t have a chance.

Last year I struggled with poppies of all varieties (honestly it felt like raising orange trees), bachelor’s buttons, celosia, globe amaranth (should have potted it), sunflowers (squirrels), and bee balm! I’m sure these things could be overcome, but this year I wanted to order what worked really well for us last year.

7 Comments

    • Rachael

      yes, I’ve read that too! We have some yarrow that grows wild as well as planting some that comes back. I never got around to cutting and drying it (apparently it’s significant *when* you cut) to make wound powder, but it was definitely on my mind this past summer.

  • Susan Magnolia

    I love straw flowers. I always buy a boquet to dry them out. I never thought about growing them! You chose a beautiful variety of seeds.

  • Margaret

    The photography isn’t as lovely as Floret, but I have had great success with seeds from swallowtailgardenseeds.com and I can often find things there that are sold out elsewhere…just fyi!

  • Nikaela

    Racheal can I ask why you should have potted your globe amaranth? I have some amaranth seeds (don’t know if they’re globe) that I plan to plant this year…..

    • Rachael

      It came up really frail and slight for me. Still pretty! But it would have been safer and more cherished in a pot than out in the yard somewhere.

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