I dont think the catalogue influences me at all - its just something interesting to read?
I go with something that Ive seen growing already - or read from others that its worked well for them ..but I do like to read them to see whats new etc - I will often google a variety to find out more.
I know roughly how big an area I have to grow in so I rarely buy extra seeds on a whim - i did get the chilterns mix of 10... I will grow a few to go in the garden.
Colour - I have colours that work with plants I already grow... so Im not swayed by a new variety of sweetpeas etc but this year I have bought some different colours of things that worked well for me last year. Coral fountain amaranth was amazing for me so Ive also got the hot biscuits this year which I think will go with the dahlia colours i like to grow.
Things like snapdragons -I grow F1s as they have good strong stems for cutting. Ive bought the same varieties for the past couple of years. Potomac and madame butterfly.
I don't look at price - as usually cheap seeds are bog standard varieties.
To narrow my selection for growing this year I have looked at my colour palette, the months they flower. Tried to go for an even mix of focal flowers, filler flowers and foliage/greens. Last year I was missing some small/branching/filler type flowers. So I researched those.
So before I picked up a catalogue I pretty much already had my list.
VC, I stopped all but Chilterns catalogues.. Send an email and tell them to remove you from their list.
I go with something that Ive seen growing already - or read from others that its worked well for them ..but I do like to read them to see whats new etc - I will often google a variety to find out more.
I know roughly how big an area I have to grow in so I rarely buy extra seeds on a whim - i did get the chilterns mix of 10... I will grow a few to go in the garden.
Colour - I have colours that work with plants I already grow... so Im not swayed by a new variety of sweetpeas etc but this year I have bought some different colours of things that worked well for me last year. Coral fountain amaranth was amazing for me so Ive also got the hot biscuits this year which I think will go with the dahlia colours i like to grow.
Things like snapdragons -I grow F1s as they have good strong stems for cutting. Ive bought the same varieties for the past couple of years. Potomac and madame butterfly.
I don't look at price - as usually cheap seeds are bog standard varieties.
To narrow my selection for growing this year I have looked at my colour palette, the months they flower. Tried to go for an even mix of focal flowers, filler flowers and foliage/greens. Last year I was missing some small/branching/filler type flowers. So I researched those.
So before I picked up a catalogue I pretty much already had my list.
VC, I stopped all but Chilterns catalogues.. Send an email and tell them to remove you from their list.