I'm still on dial up here, so I cherish my paper catalogs. If I have to look on line, I generally stop ordering from that company because it involves going to the library to use their machines, making lists by hand, coming home, thinking it over, going back to the library, etc. etc. I HATE it.

CMK, I'm just like you. I love to read "real" books and I love to browse through real catalogs. I have to say, though that I do all my ordering online - I was very surprised this past spring when I went to cash in a replacement certificate for a plant that had died the previous fall, and I was *required* to send in the paper order form from the catalog and send it through the mail! I thought that was a rather odd requirement, since I placed the original order online.

I do also notice that I have indeed cut down my catalog browsing, for plants and in general. I do find myself doing more browsing online, often because I am in need of something and go there to look for that thing.

Because of that, I guess the threats of "this is your last catalog!!" have finally materialized, lol. I now only get an occasional catalog in the mail. I do miss them, (and definitely do go through the ones that I get, especially plant catalogs) but being very environmentally minded, I tell myself it is for the good of the world, lol.

The one thing that is an exception to all of the above is seed catalogs! I don't know why, but when it comes to seed catalogs, I need, want, and love the real thing!

I sit and pore over them for weeks, over and over, reading the descriptions, making lists from each company (I do stlll get a lot of these catalogs - at least 8) comparing prices and seed amounts, and whittling the lists down (and whiltling them down again, and again, till it's somewhere in the low hundred-dollar range in stead of up near a thousand dollars, lol). I look forward to the seed catalogs, put them aside till I have a free afternoon, make a cup of tea or hot chocolate, get my paper and pen, and spend the afternoon in seed heaven. Then I'll do the same thing another afternoon. Nothing like a winter Sunday afternoon in seed heaven!

The day the seed catalogs are obsolete will be, for me, a very sad day indeed!

Dee

I always order online but definitely enjoy getting the catalogs and flyers. I doubt I would order as much if I just depended on the online versions.

Granted, I don't have to get three of every single one though!

I definitely prefer to browse the paper catalogs - but order on-line....! I will look directly on-line if I already know what I want but, to just browse to see if something 'jumps out at me', that needs the tactile stimulation of a real paper catalog :-)

I'm sure the business would prefer to just provide one or the other - that would save them a reasonable amount of money. But most of us react differently to 'real' things vs digital things in terms of how we absorb and react to the information.

I had an interesting sort of experiment with this recently - I downloaded a bridge card game software program. It drives me nuts to play it - without the presence of a real, physical partner across a real table, I find it hard to do things like count/keep track of the number of trump cards played etc. I've given up playing the game because it was making me hate playing bridge!

There was an article in the local paper just as school started in September, talking about research showing that students who take physical, hand-written notes do better than those who take notes on their laptops!

There is some important link between physically involving your body and the cognitive processes in your brain. I wonder if it will be different for future 'digital generations' for whom paper becomes obsolete. I may be a dinosaur but I definitely need paper catalogs, magazines, and books!

I rarely touch a catalog any more and feel perfectly satisfied to order from an online catalog for certain things. Bulbs for instance and bare root roses. Small perennials, especially specialties like hellebores and epimediums, and that's about it. I had a lot of catalogs coming to the house that I was ignoring and just thinking of all that paper being used to just throw it out, guilted me into calling each company and requesting they no longer send them.

I do order online but I also buy locally probably an equal amount. I would prefer having the best and healthiest selection of plants down the road and make a selection in person, but that just isn't reality. I don't buy from big box stores, I buy more from growers that offer organically grown plants and starts.

That doesn't mean by any stretch of the imagination that I have fully embraced technology. I don't even have a cell phone and will never buy a 'reader'. I use the library 12 months a year and love a book in my hands. I still enjoy magazines from the library too. Especially since they are basically being recycled rather than used once and discarded. I don't have magazine subscriptions except for Consumer Reports.

So not sure if that is contradictory or not. I guess I am adapting where I need to.

-Dee, YES! While I wouldn't be opposed to reading on a digital device if no books were at hand, I will ALWAYS go for the book if given the choice. There's something satisfying about putting that finished book on your shelf after reading it. Or wandering thru the isles at the library for an hour or two. Or the comforting smell of a second-hand bookshop ;-)

BTW, what are some of your favorite seed catalogs? Do you start perennials too, or mostly annuals/veg?
CMK

This post was edited by christinmk on Wed, Nov 20, 13 at 14:11

CMK, I do it all, lol! I usually start mostly annuals - I sold bouquets at the farmers market for a few years - but I have done perennials as well, and I've been increasing my vegetable gardening the last few years as well.

I do the bulk of my seed buying from Johnny's, but also purchase from Pinetree, Select Seeds, Seeds of Change, Territorial, and Swallowtail. I used to use Park Seed & Thompson and Morgan (and still get their catalogs) and still sometimes order a thing or two from them, and once in a blue moon, if I absolutely must have something I can't find elsewhere, I'll place an order with Burpee. I adore their catalog but know it's all overpriced fantasy, lol, so I just enjoy looking at the gorgeous photographs.

I try to support the smaller seed companies who are committed to non-GMO and organic seed, so I do try to place at least a small order with several different companies. There's another new-to-me catalog I got last year which looked promising but I can't remember who it was. If I get it again I'll pass it along - some small operation who suffered a fire and has literally risen from the ashes, lol.

I wintersow, so I usually have my seed orders placed by Christmas, and I always get a stray catalog or so later (earlier?) in the year. Of course, I always feel compelled to buy at least a pack or two....

So far I only received Pinetree's catalog. Gleefully awaiting the onslaught....!

:)
Dee

I order anything that I cannot find at my local nursery. Which is very little these days. My nursery will order anything if you request an item before they submit their order for Spring.

But I love to sit by the fireplace in the winter and go through the catalogs and I even save garden magazines to look at for idea to refer to during the winter.

I especially love Plant Delight Catalog. They always have something different.

I also love the feel of a catalogue in my hands...or any book for that matter. A highlight of my winter is the arrival of the new catalogues...not many anymore..so I do request them from some companies. I love sitting with a few catalogues on a winter afternoon, a fire on and a cup of tea, browsing. The thing with the paper version is that it is always there when you have an idea and want to refer to it. Otherwise, I must stop what I am doing, go into the office and log on the computer. So give me paper anytime. You would not believe I just completed a 30-year career in IT!! I don't even have a cell phone - reminds me of the many years I had to be 'reachable' for client problems. When friends question it I just say "I'm not that important".

I won't be without my porn! Heads out of the gutter people....GARDEN porn! LOL!

I do enjoy getting some catalogs in the mail. I think I tend to pay more attention to various plants when they're in a catalog because I'm not necessarily "looking" for them. They're just there so you stumble upon them. I find when I go online, I'm looking for a particular plant, or browsing hellebores, etc.....so I think I miss other possible interesting plants on websites because I don't tend to sift through an entire list of plants on any one website.

As mentioned before Plant Delights catalog is great. Lots if interesting plants and Tony Avent is a hoot describing some of them. I've never ordered by catalog from them but went there and filled the car once.

I like to purchase from as many local nurseries as I can. I'm fortunate that I have 3 or 4 great nurseries with very interesting plants within forty minutes or so. Would love to get to some in CT. So, I don't tend to order from the catalogs I get, but I like to see what's out there and say......"if only I were in zone 7!" Although I'm sure UPS and my mailman would disagree that I shop more locally! They just underestimate how much plant material I actually buy in a year. Who need new shoes or clothing? I just want plants and seeds!

I definitely go online more looking for plants though from all the suggestions on GW threads about new, interesting plants. That's where I find the digital age is wonderful.

I don't even have a cell phone -

northerner_on,
Not to hijack a very good topic but I totally understand. My profession required I was on a airplane every Monday and return Friday for 30 years.

Since retirement I will not get on an airplane unless someone has died and I have to arrive within one day. So I totally understand not having a cell phone. I only have one for emergency.

Not to get on a Airplanes and being reachable 24/7 as a requirement is the joy of retirement.

Had to give you a nod of understanding northerner_on

Back to the topic discussed. Sorry for the interruption.

Yes! Plant Delights is awesome. Tony's commentary is so funny that I even read the blurbs on plants that DON'T grow in my zone!

My fav has to be Klehm's Song Sparrow. The photos are luscious. Honestly, I'm not all that into peonies, hostas, and daylilies (some of their main collections featured in the catalog) but somehow after looking at them at Klehm's I suddenly do a 180 and am totally tempted!!! LOL.

Another is Annie's Annuals because the lay-out of her catalog is so well done. Love the whole garden/vignette pics she provides for inspiration.

I feel bad about getting catalogs also because I will likely still visit the nursery's online site anyway. The catalog can only contain so much of their stock after all (unless were talking the forest farm catalogs here, lol).
CMK

I'm with you, too, CMK. I love checking out different plants online but when I get a catalog in the mail (especially when I'm not expecting one) its like Christmas lol. I've looked Blue Stones inventory online countless times but when I got their catalog, which everything featured is also online, I still wore the pages out flipping back and forth, reading through it.
I just bought a kindle (after they went on sale because of the new FAA regs) but I will still buy hard copies of certain books... I know its not a very green way of life but there's something about having something tangible. It feels like I own it more if I have hard copies lol

I think it is a generational thing - like cursive writing versus printing. Being a baby boomer I grew up with printed material and 'long hand' - no computers in schools in the 50's & 60'. So I do love the catalogs. Sitting on a cold winter day in my cozy chair, with a cup of coffiee pouring over catalogs & making 'buy' lists is one of life's greatest pleasures. I notice that Khlem's is bringing back their paper catalog but you have to pay $10 to get it. Not sure if I want to do that even if it is one of the best gardening 'eye candy'. And I love gardening & shelter magazines. I susbscribe to many, take what I want out of them & then either put them in the re-cycle bin or give them to sister-in-law who loves them just as much as I do.

I've a stack of old catalogs. I sometimes browse them in the winter and then go to Google if I see something I want and usually find more online than the paper catalog offered.

I never cared for - or I rather quickly tired of - the ''new'' stuff on the covers of catalogs so the old ones augmented with Google work fine.

felisa, I went to their site to order the Khlem's catalog when christinmk mentioned them but like you I thought 10.00 was a little steep. If they had said 5 they might have had a chance but that is the cost of a plant.

I have to check out a couple other plant vendors and get the catalogs moving. I moved a few years ago and I only get Gilbert H Wild because daylilies are the only plants I have ordered since I moved.

When I first moved here, the Bluestone print catalog was my eye candy/Achilles' heel/Pandora's box. Everything I ordered from BP is planted and has thrived the past 9+ years in my various garden beds, including multiple hellebores, black snakeroot, baptisia, 'Leonard Messel' magnolia, abelia & clematis, among others.

Now that I've achieved what I set out to do 9 years ago--create garden beds that attract & sustain pollinators--I'm no longer as obsessed with adding more plants/shrubs to my over-stuffed beds. I was briefly caught up by dramatic/fascinating new cultivars of old garden anchor plants (Shasta daisy, daylily, blanket flower, Echinacea, even hardy geranium). The past few years have showed me many of them are unreliable and don't perform in the garden as expected based on the catalog descriptions.

Honestly I'm not sure why they send so many....oftentimes it looks like the same catalog but with a different cover,

That was one compelling reason why I stopped ordering from Bluestone--the catalogs were always the same but just with a different cover (+higher prices).

So long as there are new gardeners just beginning to discover their green thumbs, I expect there will be paper garden catalogs to tempt them altho' I'd expect Web-savvy gardeners will turn to the Internet rather than their mailbox.

I don't have a Smart phone or any of those other technological miracles that 95% of the earth's population is so addicted to and continue (for now) to use Google to look up information when I can't find it in my own reference books.

CMK - But I'm the same way with books ;-)

I too have lots & lots of beat-up, dog-eared paperback & hardcover books and refuse to even consider the cost of a Kindle. I can't see any point in buying something I already own.

How long has Klehm's been charging for the catalog I wonder? Now I think of it, I haven't gotten a new one from them in a couple years. Shows you how much I pay attention, LOL. Yeah, $10 is quite a lot. Ten bucks bought my Sanguisorba hakusanensis and Symphyandra zanzegur at the last local plant sale with a dollar or two left over!!
CMK

One of life's small joys for me is sitting in a hot bath on a cold, snowy day and flipping through seed catalogs, planning what seeds to order. :o)

On a side note, re: cell phones. I have one but only use it for emergencies, though I'm not a "dinosaur" in terms of technology - I just don't want to be bothered. Texting drives me batty - I REFUSE to text. I actually told my manager that one time - if you want to contact me, send me an e-mail or call me on the cell (had a work-issued cell at that time), I don't text. She actually bust out laughing, she thought it was funny I was so direct about it. One of my pet peeves is sitting in meetings and people constantly with the d*mn texting on the phone AAARGH!!! (and this is not all the younger generation, either...so can't blame it on that)

Rant over. Michele out.

christinmk, I do not know how long they have charged 10.00 but it is too much. It is not a plant. lol

mxk3, I know how you feel. Because one of my duties as assigned was technology and communications. I had two cell phones. I had to have a back up without a moment of interruption. Talk about over load on tech. So I am like you cell phone is for emergency and not my life now or ever again.

I'm a hardcopy reader for almost everything; two newspapers per day and many magazines covering a range of topics. If a magazine switches to digital only, I cancel my subscription.

So it is rather surprising that, when I do order plants, I prefer browsing for them online. I think the reason may be that catalogs throw in so much hype and take out information I want to know before ordering. (You know, info such as: This sprig will take over the block within three years/The bloom period is roughly 5 days per year/It hates the SoCal climate./Is that blue flower really blue? ) So if the plant is something I haven't grown before, I can easily open other windows for information sources to check out those important details and look up other photographs of typical in-real-gardens plant appearance.

But wandering through the local nurseries is still my favorite shopping method.