Park Seed

Full review
When I was a kid, my parents added a wing onto our humble abode as the family continued to grow. My mother’s dream was to have a greenhouse, and the southern exposure at the rear of this new addition afforded the perfect location for just such a venture. This modest 200 square-foot hot-house became a mini industry every spring, producing more annuals than our gardens could hold. Before the advent of supermarket plant concessions, her roadside stand became a popular and successful side-business drawing hundreds of repeat customers every planting season.

A bit of history...

Park Seed Company has been a family-run business since 1868, with headquarters located in Greenwood, South Carolina. They offer a full line of vegetable seeds, both annual and perennial flower seeds, rooted perennial plants; as well as a limited variety of roses, bulbs, fruit-bearing bushes and supplies for the home gardener.

Along with the convenience of effortless one-stop shopping, Park Seed Co. is unrivaled in their ability to consistently achieve the ongoing standard for flowering annuals; beginning with their introduction of the Wave and Avalanche varieties of petunias in particular, and an on-going introduction of excellent performers in the highly-competitive category of both hybrid and legacy tomatoes.

Hybrid vs. Legacy...

By far, tomato and pepper plants accounted for the greatest sales volume at my mom’s neighborhood stand. For years, the Harris company out of Rochester, NY held the patent on the Moreton variety of hybrid tomatoes. Their uniform size, flavor and disease-resistance were considered the standard of the industry. Much has changed in the years since hybrids were introduced. Breeders have successfully achieved consistency in size and flavor, while continuing to eliminate most of the diseases that can cripple a tomato crop due to adverse weather conditions and/or inconsistent care.

Ordering from Park

Once you’ve made a purchase, the Park Seed catalog arrives like clockwork come the first week of January. One of my winter traditions is to fill out the enclosed order form with an assortment of favorites from past years, and a few of the “new arrivals” that look promising. The superb photography and seemingly endless product selection always provides the temptation to over-order. In my experience, Park seeds offer close to 100 percent germination, so the enthusiastic gardener may be overwhelmed when it comes time to transplant the multitude of seedlings in store.

For the purpose of this review, I ordered on-line at parkseed.com for the first time this year. Their home-page is the most user-friendly of any on-line retailer I have experienced. All the necessary information is easy to find, with account information in the upper right corner, and all product categories listed in a sidebar located to the left of the page. A search bar will accept specific products or catalog item numbers, and the main categories are linked in an easy-to-read bar located across the top of the page. You may also order toll-free by calling Park Seed at 800-845-3369.

A second sidebar offers links to a company representative. A click on “Ask Karen” brings up a simple e-mail text box with instructions to relay any questions you may have, which will be responded to by e-mail. I did not see any access to an “instant messaging” feature found at sites such as Overstock.com, and other on-line retailers. “Request a Catalog”, “Park History”, a link to request their “Free Newsletter” and a handy Zone Map round out the important FAQ’s.

Despite placing my order later than usual (March 3rd), all requested items were in-stock and shipped the next day, arriving at my door via USPS 4 business days later. While seed and garden-gadget items are shipped immediately, all plant and bulb orders are shipped to coincide with appropriate planting times in your particular zone.

Navigation

As an example, entering the word Wave in the search bar will result in 15 different varieties of this Park exclusive variety of petunia. A search of Avalanche will bring forth 71 colors of these petunia beauties. A more general search of all petunias will display dozens of pages for your selection. Each variety has a description and price per packet, with links to “add to cart” or obtain "more info” about the product. Quantities requested can be entered into the small box at the bottom of the description. This easy-to-use format is standard for any seed, plant or bulb requested of the convenient search function.

Each item placed in your cart appears in a running tally, eliminating the need to click on “cart” to check those items or requested quantities - an excellent feature.

Recommendations

As a long-time Park Seed customer, I have had great success with many of their varieties of plants and seeds. Both their Wave and Avalanche hybrid petunia varieties are “clean” bloomers that require no “dead-heading” - the laborious and daily task of removing spent flowers to facilitate the continuation of the blooming cycle. Their trailing habit and tendency to spread, in combination with a perfect flower to foliage ratio makes them a great choice for containers, with new colors being introduced every year. A price of $3.50 for a packet of 10 pelletized seeds may seem a bit expensive, but germination is near 100 percent and with a weekly feeding a few plants strategically placed make for a very impressive display.

Among tomatoes, I find the Celebrity hybrid to be a strong performer, much like the Moreton in size and flavor, but with a compact plant structure suitable for container gardening. This year's newcomer Health Kick is my yearly venture into the unknown - checking out the new arrivals is one of the joys of gardening, in my experience. Dozens of tomato types, including Legacy (non-hybrid) varieties are available for early, middle or late-season maturity.

For blueberry lovers, the Sunshine Blue is a versatile and durable variety which is both hardy in cold climates and suitable for southern zones where most blueberries under-perform. Although classified as a dwarf, my ten-year-old examples are 6 feet tall and almost as wide, producing clusters of sweet and tangy berries from July into August. They can be trimmed to any shape, and also work well in container garden applications where their smaller stature would be most apparent.

Checkout

With selections and quantities updated, checkout is a breeze. The first step gives the option to “register” as a new customer. I completed this step to see what would result. Aside from e-mails generated as order and shipping confirmations, I have received 11 “Web Special” product solicitation e-mails in the 4 weeks since placing my order. I consider this excessive and have since unsubscribed - a process achieved with a simple click of the link at the bottom of the page. You can pass on the registration process using the link provided.

Once you double-check your order, shipping fees are calculated, based on the dollar amount spent. There are no additional charges for back ordered items that may require separate shipping. A standard payment form completes the process. My order totaled $64.39, with a shipping fee of $10.95 for a total of $75.34 - not bad, considering my two rose bushes will be shipped separately at the appropriate time. Park Seed accepts Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express as payment options. My credit card statement reflected the proper charges, which were clearly stated with Park Seed as the source.

A great time of the year...

If your green-thumb gets greener come spring, experience proves that your on-line planting needs can be fulfilled by Park Seed. With their user-friendly website, timely and accurate order/shipping confirmations, limitless variety and speedy delivery, this 5-star organization has an organized format that all on-line retailers should emulate.

Geo. W. Park Seed Co., Inc.
1 Parkton Ave.
Greenwood, SC 29647-0001
800-845-3369
parkseed.com