Hi,
there is a site with many recommendations and customer feedback, but the GardenWEb page has informed me we may not say the name, so perhaps you can find it under 'garden watchdog'

here are some notes I made from postings on this site when I asked about seed companies.

Buying seeds - Recommended

Harris - II
Bakers

Crossmans

Everwilde

burpees

Praire Moon

JL Hudson, Summer Hill, Fragrant Path, and Diane's

Heirloom Acres Seeds

Cheapseeds

Cooks
SSE

Johnny's in Maine

Nichols

Sample Seeds

Stokes Seeds

T & M
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The most expensive ones I got from from Renee's Garden - www.reneesgarden.com - $2.79/ea. But you get what you pay for. You can clearly see that the seeds are bigger and more viable- the result: huge sprouts! :)

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Tradewinds, has a good germination rate also awesome shipping and a great price on shipping.

T's has a good price if your looking for smaller amounts of seed so far I have had decent germination, some are a little more difficult so I can not fairly say either way.

Great germination rates from seeds from ferry morse and american seed company.
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Thompson & Morgan has several varieties. That could be a starting place. They are good to do business with.
Check out Seedhunt and Southwest Native Seeds
http://www.southwesternnativeseeds.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: Seedhunt

hazzards ,swallowtail and select seeds are great too.

Lisa

Pinetree is a good one with mostly edibles, lots of selection with good prices.

If you don't have very specific seeds in mind one of the cheapest ways to get lots of variety is Bakemom's newbie project on this forum. There are also sometimes newbie offers on the round robin and regular seed exchange forums requiring just the cost of postage. Some have people look at your want list to gift you specific seed, while others it is just a random selection sent.

Another good option for more common varieties of both edibles and flowers are the super cheap seeds many stores start offering in late winter. The names change but I have seen them from "Valley Greene" or "American Seed". They are usually at Walmart, Walgreens, Dollar Stores, Menards, etc. Usually $1 for 10-20 packets, and the packets contain more than enough seed. Menards last year had the cheapest ones here at 20/$1 which let me stock up on things like radishes, lettuce, and zinnias. They are mostly the more common heirloom veggies and flowers, but you can't beat the price.

I know you asked for seed company recommendations, but I thought I would just throw that out there for anyone interested. My first year wintersowing I carefully picked out and bought some seeds online and THEN did the newbie project. I actually got many of the same seeds I had purchased. The ones from the fellow gardeners not only had more seed in the packet, but better germination rates as well. So now I start the season with doing a couple of group swaps and then see if there are any special seeds I still want to buy.

I second Crossman and Everwilde. I just got seeds from them. They have great prices and variety. :) Also, there is a winter swap going on....look under Exchanges.

Great companies listed above! I have ordered Laura Bush petunia seed from the following company, which is also good for wildflowers & for plants that can take hot, dry weather. I was pleased.

Wildseed Farms in Texas

I have never ordered from the 2 companies below but have read favorable posts:

Onalee's Seeds in Florida

Diane's Flower Seeds in Utah

Well, you've gotten lots of good recommendations already, but I'll add my favorites to the list. I try to support seed companies that offer organic seed or at least promote organic and heirloom seed and seed diversity.

My favorites are Johnny's, Pinetree, Seeds of Change, Select Seed, and Swallowtail, and I've ordered with good results from Territorial as well.

Boy, I sure do miss ValueSeeds. They were an arm of Thompson & Morgan (I think it was) and had great seeds for GREAT prices. No longer around, sadly.

Dee

Wow -- thank you all for the wealth of information!

I can't wait to start looking into these companies :D

molanic: thanks, I am participating in the newbie seed project. :)

Thank you again to such a friendly and helpful bunch!

--purl

I love The Sample Seed Shop because they are inexpensive and I can experiment with different varieties and winter sowing. Swallowtail is another good one.

I was very happy with Sample Seed Shop Remy was very pleasant everything I planted came up 90%. She emailed following up on delivery and answering questions. Add bonus I get to support a New York small business.