Better still, curl up with a half dozen seed and flower catalogs because offerings for 2000 are superb. As you select flower and vegetable seeds for next year, you may notice several trends. Heirloom vegetable and flower varieties are a big presence in the catalogs. Rescued from obscurity, seeds for the old 19th-century plants like golden bantam corn and brandywine tomatoes are very much available. Good thing too.
Heirloom vegetables have more taste than most modern varieties.
A Falmouth gardener gets ready to plant his garden, in this photograph taken several years ago. Though planting is still a few months away, it's definitely time to order seeds for spring. And if old flowers lack the showiness of today's hybrids, they make up in scent or interest what they lack in color. Another trend in seed catalogs is the ever-increasing availability of European and Asian varieties. In Albion, Johnny's Selected Seeds is showcasing a Chinese yam it's selling this year.