Home Garden Companion

Ilona's Garden Journal

buy quality plants
  • Plant Library On The Journal
  • Garden chores
    • Do as I say
  • Ilona’s Garden Home
    • Old House Blog
    • Garden Librarian
  • Ilona’s Garden Flavor Shop
  • Privacy Policy

An Armchair Gardener

Revisiting Two Garden Catalogs


For years I had enjoyed and sometimes ordered from two garden companies that produced outstanding catalogs. If a garden catalog is carefully put together it can double as a compendium of useful gardening information. They are usually condensed versions of what amounts to garden dictionary definitions of plant requirements and descriptions. I received two of the catalog stalwarts this winter and the one lived up to expectations and exceeded, while the other has sadly gone the way of the carnival hawking aka most garden catalog’s hype. That is my opinion,anyway.

White Flower Farm continues to offer informative, while enticing, garden catalogs that not only present fine plant material, but help you garden better. This year they had page after page of imaginative container plantings, with the plant material offered at what I thought were very reasonable prices.

Wayside Gardens, however, is another story. Years ago they were bought by Parks Seed Co. and they now have a slightly gussied up version of the Parks style of catalog. Rather than usefully describing the plants, it has deteriorated to moderate hype of the common plant store type. Not anything terrible about the companies or their quality of service, I was just disappointed with the catalog itself. Park Seed does, however, have a very nice online journal. Hope they keep it up.

Today’s economic environment is not very promising for the future of print catalogs, I would guess, so this may be a print dinosaur on the way to extinction.

Technorati Tags: garden catalogs,


DISCLOSURE: I may be an affiliate for products that I recommend. If you purchase those items through my links I will earn a commission. You will not pay more when buying a product through my link. Thank you, in advance for your support! Privacy Policy
« March Gives A Lion’s Roar
Do You Dig Your Soil? »

Oh, hi there!

I was a garden blog pioneer, and began writing on this blog in 2003. Before that I had begun a garden website that has been at its own domain since 2006, Ilona's Garden.

I still love writing, gardening, and art after all these years, although travel and grandchildren have become a big part of my life, now.

Standouts

Do You Grow Herbs? 10 Reasons To Love Them

There are so many ways to enjoy herb plants, that they are not for herb gardens only. Think about tucking them into the landscape, into containers or into your home. I do I enjoy thee? Oh, Herb, Let me count the ways! 10 Ways I Enjoy Herbs (and you can, too!) In companion plantings, herbs […]

10 Cool Season Annual Flowers To Plant

Shirley poppies and Bachelor Buttons Not every garden writer alerts you to the fact that annuals can have seasons that are shorter than other choices. For places like Ohio which have hot summers, there are common annuals that only do well when our weather is cooler, such as in early summer. Those flowers sort of […]

Newest Postings Here

  • HELLLOOOO, From The Other Side
  • February Gardening, Last of Winter in the Flower Garden
  • Compilation of Past Mini-Posts of 2003
  • Wayback in Ilona Garden Time
  • 3 Tips For Landscaping Successfully With Ornamental Trees

Finding your way home via the garden path


Read reviews from the GardenLibarian

Visit For A Spell

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Youtube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Google +
  • Wanelo

Portrait of a Gardener

gardener musings

Musings

What’s Wrong With Today’s Gardening?

Modern gardening

What Is Wrong?

Garden Journal

fine garden journal

Journal, Planner and Log Book

Shop Small Trees and More

People’s Choice

Wayback in Ilona Garden Time

posted in Uncategorized

1910 garden plan

3 Tips For Landscaping Successfully With Ornamental Trees

posted in Landscape Design Know-How, Landscape Trees

Garden update

Mid-Ohio Gardening Update

posted in 2018, How's the weather?

All Season Garden Color with Bold Foliage Effects, Masterful Contrasts

posted in Garden design ideas, Landscape Design Know-How


Bonsai Trees

Stay updated!

Get all the latest tasty goodness straight to your inbox!

Topics

Past Posts

Join Me

  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Garden Enthusiasm

Garden Enthusiasm Delivered

* indicates required

View previous campaigns.

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2021 · Part of Ilona’s Garden by Ilona Erwin