The Best Seed Catalogues for 2027: 12 US Mail-Order Sources Ranked by Variety Selection and Germination Guarantees
Discover the best seed catalogues for 2027, from heirloom specialists to all-round giants. Find where to buy seeds online with the best variety selection, germination guarantees, and value.
Every January, seed catalogues land in mailboxes and inboxes across the country — and that moment, more than any warm spring day, marks the real start of the growing year. The best seed catalogues for 2027 offer something no local garden center can match: hundreds of varieties across every type of vegetable, flower, and herb, with detailed growing notes, germination guarantees, and access to heirloom and open-pollinated cultivars you simply won’t find on a peg hook at a big-box store.
Whether you’re planning your first vegetable patch, expanding a cut flower border, or hunting down a specific heritage tomato variety, ordering seeds online gives you full control over what goes in the ground. This guide breaks down the best seed companies for 2027 — who they are, what they do best, and which one suits your garden and growing goals.
Before you place your first order, check the year-round planting guide to map out your sowing windows for the whole season and build your order around what you actually need.
Why Online Seed Catalogues Beat the Garden Center
Garden centers stock what sells quickly and takes up minimal shelf space. That means a short list of proven F1 hybrid cultivars, limited to the most popular vegetables and a handful of annual flowers. Online seed catalogues, by contrast, carry thousands of varieties — including open-pollinated heirlooms, regional specialties, and rare species that never make it to a physical retail shelf.
The advantages of ordering direct go beyond variety selection:
- Freshness. Seeds ordered direct from a specialist are typically packed for the current season. Garden center stock may have sat in a warehouse for six to twelve months before it reaches the shelf, lowering germination rates before you even open the packet.
- Germination guarantees. Reputable mail-order companies test germination rates and print them on every packet. Many offer replacement seeds if germination fails when their instructions are followed.
- Growing detail. The best catalogues include variety descriptions that actually help you choose: days to maturity, heat and cold tolerance, disease resistance ratings, flavor notes for edibles, and suggestions for succession sowing. A garden center label gives you none of this.
- Early access. Popular varieties sell out. Ordering in January or February gives you first pick before stock runs low on the best performers — a real issue with heritage tomatoes and in-demand flower seeds every year.
What to Look for in a Seed Catalogue
Not every seed company is equal. Here’s what separates the genuinely useful catalogues from the mediocre ones.
Variety Descriptions
A good catalogue tells you what you actually need to know: days from sowing to harvest or first flower, mature plant height and spread, flavor notes for edibles, USDA hardiness zone for perennials, and any notable disease resistances. Vague copy like “easy to grow and delicious” tells you nothing useful. Specific copy like “72 days to maturity, AAS winner, excellent resistance to Fusarium wilt, best flavor in trials” helps you make a real decision.
Seed Type Clarity
Look for clear labeling on seed type. Open-pollinated (OP) varieties set seed that comes true to type and can be saved year to year. F1 hybrids offer uniformity and often improved disease resistance or yield, but saved seed will not reliably reproduce the parent characteristics. Heirloom varieties are open-pollinated cultivars with a documented history, typically 50 or more years old. Organic seeds are produced without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. The best catalogues label every variety clearly on this spectrum so you can make informed choices.
Germination Rate Testing
Reputable companies test germination rates in-house and print the results on packets or in the catalogue. Look for rates above 75% for most vegetables; some slow-germinating species naturally fall lower. Avoid companies that don’t publish germination data — it usually means they don’t test it.
Shipping Policy
Good companies ship seeds at the right time for your growing region. Check whether a company ships to your state, what the average dispatch time is during peak season (January through March), and whether they account for USDA hardiness zones in their timing recommendations. Some companies hold orders until after your average last frost date for tender crops; others ship immediately year-round and leave timing to you.
The Best Seed Catalogues for 2027
The following companies represent the strongest options for the 2027 growing season, evaluated on variety range, seed quality, value, growing support, and reliability.
Thompson & Morgan
Thompson & Morgan has been supplying seeds since 1855, making it one of the oldest and most trusted seed companies in the world. Their 2027 catalogue covers an enormous range — thousands of flower, vegetable, fruit, and herb varieties, including many exclusives developed through their own breeding program that you won’t find elsewhere. They are particularly strong on ornamental flowers, cottage garden annuals, and unusual vegetable varieties suited to US growing conditions.
Standout features for 2027 include a dedicated kitchen garden range with both heritage and modern hybrid varieties, an extensive half-hardy annual selection for cut flower growers, and a regularly updated trial winners section featuring varieties that have performed well across multiple growing regions. Thompson & Morgan also carry plug plants and young plants for gardeners who want a head start without the full seed-raising process. Their growing guides — written by growers rather than marketers — are among the most genuinely useful in the industry.
Browse the Thompson & Morgan 2027 catalogue for their full flower and vegetable range.
Kings Seeds
Kings Seeds is a specialist grower and importer with one of the most competitively priced seed ranges available online. Their 2027 catalogue is particularly strong on open-pollinated and heritage vegetable varieties, cut flower seeds, and green manures — a combination that suits both kitchen gardeners and market growers. Seed packets are priced accessibly, and bulk quantity options make them a favorite for serious vegetable growers managing larger plots.
Kings Seeds stands out for transparent variety descriptions that include trial results, yield data, and specific growing notes. Their heritage tomato selection is excellent, with many varieties not found in mainstream catalogues. The cut flower range — covering sweet peas, lisianthus, scabiosa, rudbeckia, and a wide range of annual and biennial stems — is genuinely one of the strongest available from any single supplier. They also carry a good selection of herb seeds, including culinary, medicinal, and tea garden varieties.
Explore the Kings Seeds 2027 range for heritage vegetables and cut flower seeds.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Based in Mansfield, Missouri, Baker Creek is the definitive US source for heirloom seeds. Their catalogue carries over 1,500 open-pollinated and heirloom varieties — all non-GMO — with an exceptional selection of heritage tomatoes (over 150 varieties alone), peppers, squash, beans, and melons sourced from around the world. Every variety in their catalogue has a story: where it came from, who grew it originally, and what makes it culinarily or historically distinctive. For gardeners who care about preserving variety diversity and growing history, Baker Creek is essential.
Best for: Heirloom and heritage vegetables, rare finds, non-GMO growing, broadest variety access in the US.
Burpee
Founded in 1876, Burpee is the largest and most recognizable seed company in the United States. Their 2027 catalogue mixes classic F1 hybrids with a growing heirloom selection and a strong lineup of All-America Selections (AAS) winners. Burpee is the strongest choice for gardeners who want predictability — consistent germination, well-trialed varieties, and reliable customer support available throughout the growing season. Their growing guides are beginner-friendly without being simplistic, and seed quality is consistently high across all categories.
Best for: Beginners, reliable F1 hybrids, AAS winner access, strong customer support.
Johnny’s Selected Seeds
Johnny’s is the professional gardener’s choice. Based in Fairfield, Maine, they supply both serious home growers and commercial market gardeners, and their catalogue reflects that: varieties are selected for yield, uniformity, flavor, and disease resistance, with detailed trial data provided for each one. If you want the actual measured days to maturity, projected yield per row foot, and disease resistance ratings against specific pathogens, Johnny’s provides all of it. Their vegetable range is exceptional, with a particularly strong selection of salad crops, tomatoes, cucumbers, and storage vegetables.
Best for: Serious vegetable growers, market gardeners, data-driven variety selection, high-performance crops.
Botanical Interests
Botanical Interests focuses on organic and heirloom seeds packaged with exceptional detail and design. Each seed packet includes full growing instructions, companion planting suggestions, and historical background on the variety — the packet itself is a small growing guide. Their range is more curated than Burpee or Johnny’s but well-chosen, with a good selection of culinary herbs, edible flowers, and pollinator-friendly annuals. A strong choice for beginning gardeners who want to learn as they grow, and for organic growers who prioritize certified seed production.
Stop missing your zone's planting windows.
Select your US zone and month — get a complete checklist of what to plant, prune, feed, and protect right now.
→ View My Garden CalendarBest for: Beginners, organic gardening, culinary herbs, edible flowers, pollinator plants.
High Mowing Organic Seeds
High Mowing is a Vermont-based, employee-owned USDA-certified organic seed company carrying over 700 varieties. Every seed they sell is produced without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, and their catalogue is particularly strong on salad greens, brassicas, and varieties adapted to Northern US growing conditions. For certified organic production where the provenance of seed matters as much as the variety, High Mowing is the most thorough and principled US source.
Best for: Certified organic growing, Northern climates, salad crops, brassicas, ethical seed sourcing.
Best Seed Catalogue by Growing Goal
| Goal | Best catalogue | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Best all-round range | Thompson & Morgan | Thousands of varieties across flowers and vegetables; exclusive cultivars; strong growing support |
| Best value for money | Kings Seeds | Competitive per-packet pricing; bulk options; excellent open-pollinated range |
| Best heirloom vegetables | Baker Creek | 1,500+ heirloom varieties; 150+ heritage tomato selections; all non-GMO |
| Best for beginners | Burpee or Botanical Interests | Reliable hybrids; beginner-friendly guides; consistent germination rates |
| Best for serious growers | Johnny’s Selected Seeds | Trial data, yield figures, disease resistance ratings; market-grade selection |
| Best certified organic | High Mowing Organic Seeds | USDA certified; 700+ varieties; Northern-adapted selections |
| Best cut flower seeds | Thompson & Morgan or Kings Seeds | Both carry extensive cutting garden ranges with specialist annual and biennial stems |
How to Plan Your 2027 Seed Order
The biggest mistake first-time seed buyers make is ordering without a plan and ending up with more packets than growing space, duplicate varieties, or — worse — missing key sowing windows because the right seeds arrived too late. A simple planning process avoids all of this.
Build Around a Sowing Calendar
Before you open a catalogue, know when things need to go in the ground. Work backwards from your average last frost date to calculate indoor sowing windows — most vegetables need six to twelve weeks of indoor growing before transplanting outdoors. The year-round planting guide maps out what to sow each month across the full growing calendar, giving you a clear framework for building your order. For seeds you can start in the depths of winter, the January planting guide covers what’s genuinely worth starting indoors in the coldest months and what’s better left until soil temperatures rise.
Order by Late January
The best seed companies restock specific varieties only once per year. Popular heritage tomato varieties, unusual squash cultivars, and high-demand flower seeds — particularly sweet peas and lisianthus — sell out by March at the latest, often much sooner. Ordering in January or early February gives you full access to the complete 2027 range before anything disappears. Signing up to email lists with your preferred companies also alerts you to early-access sales and new variety arrivals before they go live in the main catalogue.
Audit Last Year’s Seed Stock First
Seeds from previous years are often still viable. Most vegetable seeds remain viable for two to four years when stored in cool, dark, dry conditions in a sealed container. Before placing an order, run a quick germination test on any seeds you’re unsure about: wrap ten seeds in a damp paper towel, seal inside a plastic bag, and check germination after seven to ten days at room temperature. Seven or more germinating means the batch is worth keeping. Fewer than five means you need fresh stock. If you’re building a seed-saving practice, the guide to how to collect and save seeds explains which varieties reward saving versus which need fresh stock each year.
Match Quantities to Your Space
Most seed packets contain far more seeds than a typical home garden requires. A packet of 25 tomato seeds produces enough plants for most home gardens five times over. Work out how many plants you actually need — accounting for thinning and transplant loss — before deciding how many packets to order. Where a company offers bulk quantities at a discount, it only makes sense if you’re growing at scale or splitting an order with other gardeners.
Growing From Seed: What’s Worth Starting Yourself
Not everything rewards seed starting. Slow-growing perennials, woody shrubs, and species requiring complex stratification often make more sense to buy as plants. But for the majority of annual vegetables and flowers, starting from seed offers compelling advantages that compound across seasons.
The economics alone make a strong case: a packet of 25 tomato seeds costs roughly the same as a single plug plant from a garden center. The variety access is incomparably broader — a garden center stocks five or six tomato cultivars at best; a seed catalogue stocks 30 to 150. Flowers grown from seed can be timed precisely for a cutting season, and many of the best cutting varieties — lisianthus, bells of Ireland, ammi, scabiosa, and larkspur — are simply unavailable as ready-grown plants from most nurseries. The guide to flowers to grow from seed indoors covers which annual and tender perennial species reward indoor starting versus which are better direct-sown.
Starting from seed also gives you full control over growing conditions from germination onward — an advantage for organic growers and anyone who wants to avoid the conventionally treated nursery stock that dominates the plug plant trade.
Frequently Asked Questions
When do seed catalogues come out for 2027?
Most major seed companies release their 2027 catalogues between October 2026 and January 2027. Digital versions typically go live before printed editions are dispatched. Signing up for email lists with your preferred companies is the most reliable way to see new varieties and restocked items before they appear in the main catalogue, and to be notified when popular varieties come back into stock after selling out.
Are online seed catalogues reliable for germination?
Established companies with long track records — including all the ones listed in this guide — are consistently reliable on seed quality and germination rates. The most common issues with mail-order seeds are shipping delays during peak season (January through March) and occasional stock shortages on popular varieties, rather than quality problems with the seeds themselves. For any company you haven’t used before, check independent reviews on gardening forums and look for germination rate data published on their website.
What is the difference between open-pollinated and hybrid seeds?
Open-pollinated (OP) seeds produce plants that set seed true to type, meaning you can save seed from this year’s harvest and reliably grow the same variety the following year. F1 hybrid seeds are produced by crossing two parent lines to create uniform, often higher-yielding offspring, but seeds saved from F1 plants will not reliably reproduce the parent characteristics in the next generation. For a seed-saving practice, open-pollinated varieties are essential. F1 hybrids make sense when uniformity, yield, or specific disease resistances are the priority.
Which seed catalogues ship to all US states?
Most major US-based catalogues — including Burpee, Baker Creek, Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Botanical Interests, and High Mowing — ship to all 50 states, subject to state agricultural restrictions on specific plant species. Thompson & Morgan operates a dedicated US store that ships domestically. Always check a company’s shipping policy for your specific state before ordering, particularly for vegetable seeds that may be subject to state-level phytosanitary regulations on certain cucurbit or nightshade varieties.
Is it worth paying more for organic seeds?
Certified organic seeds are produced without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers and are a meaningful choice for gardeners committed to organic practice from seed to harvest. That said, a plant’s genetics are not affected by how the seed was produced — whether you grow it organically is determined entirely by your own inputs after germination. Pay for organic seeds if certified provenance aligns with your growing philosophy; don’t feel obligated if your priority is variety selection and performance data above all else.
Sources
- University of Minnesota Extension — Starting Seeds Indoors
- Royal Horticultural Society — How to Sow Seeds Outdoors
