The 18 Best Places to Buy Seeds Online

some seed packets I’ve bought from my favorite online seed companies

Where to Buy Seeds

Looking to get started with gardening?

While you can buy baby plants from your local garden center, it’s much more fulfilling (and inexpensive) to grow plants from seed!

There are so many seed companies out there, offering everything from non-GMO to heirloom to open pollinated varieties.

There are:

• local seed companies based on growing zones (“southern”)
• specialty seed companies that focus on hard-to-find plants (“asian greens“)
• companies that specialize in categories of vegetables (ie “tomatoes”)

and so much more!

My 3 Favorite Seed Companies

The short and sweet list of companies I’ve bought from again and again are:

• Botanical Interests: an all-around one stop shop for classic and heirloom varities
• Renee’s Garden: for beautiful flowers and small-space friendly veggies
• True Leaf Market: for all my asian vegetables and volume discounts

Read more: Every Vegetable I’ve Grown Inside My Apartment

even without outdoor space, I can use these indoor gardens to grow tons of herbs, leafy greens and small vegetables. I like that they use just a water nutrient solution, no soil, so it’s a faster and cleaner method of gardening!

But in today’s post I’ll do a comprehensive round up of all the online seed companies that offer high quality seeds

Quickly jump to:

• My Favorite Online Seed Stores
• Reputable Seed Companies
• Best Time to Buy Seeds
• How Long Seeds Last
• How to Store Seeds

I grow lots of herbs and tomatoes, predominantly indoors so I like to focus on container-friendly, heirloom varieties.

I also grow everything hydroponically – in just water, no soil.

I never have enough space to plant everything I buy (ha). So I often save seeds and use them months or years later.

I prefer to buy from companies that sell fresh seed with high germination rates, that don’t charge an arm & a leg for shipping and last well for many years.

With that in mind, below are my top seed companies to buy from!

Read more: My Complete Indoor Garden Setup

Botanical Interests

Broomfield, Colorado

Botanical Interests is one of my favorite seed companies.

They carry over 600 herb, vegetable and flower seeds and are best known for their beautiful seed packets!

Each packet has an artist illustration of the plant on the front – these are some of the prettiest seeds I’ve ever seen.

When I was just starting to grow indoors, I knew nothing about gardening so Botanical Interests was a great company to buy from.

I’ve bought seeds from them for several years now, and most recently branched into into buying their garlic bulbs and tubers!

I like them so much I reached out to them to ask for a discount code – you can use SHERSHEGROWS for an extra 5% off (it should stack with any promotions too!)

Botanical Interests was founded in Colorado in 1995, by a husband and wife.

They’ve since sold to Epic Gardening, the Youtube channel and huge gardening brand run by Kevin Espiritu.

As part of the acquisition, you can now also buy Birdies garden beds through Botanical Interests!

The galvanized steel garden beds are great for growing outdoors.

They’re sturdy, come in all sizes and heights, and look really chic while also being incredibly durable.

Overall, I’ve always had a great experience with Botanical Interests.

 

I’ve bought seeds from them many times, always online, but they also have partnerships with garden centers and health food grocers so you can sometimes find their seeds locally.

I see them at my local Whole Foods sometimes (but in limited varieties, and only during the spring months)

They’re a company that really focuses on home gardeners and are passionate about garden education.

Renee’s Garden Seeds

Felton, California

Renee’s Garden is another online seed company with beautiful seed packets and catalogs.

They specialize in container friendly vegetables, so they’re perfect for anyone growing indoors, in hydroponics or in small spaces.

The brand has taken the Safe Seed Pledge to not sell genetically engineered seeds and focuses on offering open pollinated, heirloom varieties from around the world.

The company was founded by Renee Shepard and is a great resource for home gardeners.

I especially like that you can filter by container varieties as they’re one of the few companies that offer an extensive range of small space-saving vegetable seeds.

In particular, I like Renee’s option of strawberries, tomatoes, beans and eggplants!

They also offer cookbooks, art prints, garden supplies and a range of bulbs, roots and tuber plants.

True Leaf Market

Salt Lake City, Utah

True Leaf was founded by a plant geneticist from Utah State University.

The company remains independently owned and is like a one stop shop for gardeners, with a huge offering of vegetable, flower and herb seeds.

They also carry supplies (planters, trays, fertilizers, grow racks, etc) and other gardening products like flower bulbs, garlic bulbs, potato starts, sprouts, microgreens and mushroom kits.

In particular, I find that they have a great variety of eggplant, cucumber and pumpkin seeds.

The company was originally called the Mountain Valley Seed Company (some of their seeds are still sold under this brand name) and in 2022, they acquired Kitazawa Seed.

As a result, you can find lots of Asian vegetable seeds on their site now!

True Leaf is also unique for their specialty seed offerings. They carry: 

• micro-greens
• sprouts
• grain
• Indian seeds
• Asian seeds
• quinoa

They also sell specialty kits for those who want an introduction to growing sprouts, making tofu or trying out hydroponics.   

I like that their website includes fun recipes to try, allows customer reviews and has extensive filtering options to sort seeds by zone, type or days to maturity.

Shipping is free for orders over $75 and pretty quick, usually within 1-2 business days.

They also have a rewards program and have discounts for bulk orders.

Kitazawa Seed

Salt Lake City, Utah

Kitazawa has a distinctive, no-frills style of packaging with green and white labels.

I like how they look like they’re from a vintage grocery store or farm co-op.

What I find unique about Kitazawa is that they offer pre-bundled assortment packs!

The Chef Specialty packs contain a combination of herbs, greens or veggies according to various themes, like Japanese heirlooms, Thai garden, shabu shabu, pickling, etc.

Kitazawa is also one of the few online seed stores that offers seed packets in bulk.

On each product page, you can buy a traditional 3 gram packet as well as larger quantities… all the way up to 5 pounds!

The higher the seed quantity, the better the pricing.

If you have a homestead, lots of land or want to place a group order, this is a really nice option.

Kitazawa was founded in 1917 by Giju Kitazawa.

He had apprenticed for a seed company in Japan before striking out on his own in California, selling primarily to Japanese American farmers.

When World War II broke out, Kitazawa and his family were among those placed in Japanese interment camps.

He eventually restarted the business after the war but his original customer base was gone, after many Japanese farmers had lost their land.

Kitazawa Seed then started selling seeds across the US and now thankfully, they’re online.

In 2022, the business was sold to True Leaf Market, but remains committed to offering non-GMO Asian varieties.

You can find all Kitazawa Varieties on their direct website as well as on True Leaf Market.

Where to Buy Seeds

quickly jump to:

Amazon | Botanical Interests | Burpee Seeds | Etsy | Fedco | High Mowing Seeds | Home Depot | Johnny’s Seeds | Kitazawa Seeds | Lowe’s | MIGardener | Renaissance Farms | Renee’s Garden Seeds | Seed Savers Exchange | Terrain | True Leaf Market | Victory Seeds

Etsy

I always thought of Etsy as a craft marketplace, but it’s actually a great place to buy seeds!

A lot of home growers will sell their own seeds through the platform, so you can find some unique varieties on Etsy that are hard to source online.

In particular, I find they have a great selection of ornamental peppers, hot peppers, dwarf tomato and container-friendly sweet pepper varieties.

Etsy carries seeds for almost everything – vegetables, herbs, greens, flowers. They even carry fun gift ideas, like seeds in paper and seed bombs.

Also – Etsy is a great place to buy strawberry roots!

Strawberries are one of those crops that are pretty tricky to start from seed.

Read more: My Best Tips for Growing Strawberries Indoors

Park Seed

Pennsylvania / South Carolina

Park Seed offers over 1,100 seed varieties, from flowers to organic vegetables.

I like that they focus on home gardens and pay attention to quality, reliability and performance.

I especially like Park Seed for their garden tools and essentials.

Park Seed created their own proprietary seed starting system called the Bio Dome, which I recommend for starting seeds indoors.

It comes in various sizes, has adjustable vents for airflow and is designed for bottom-tray watering.

The trays come with sponges, and after those are used up you can just re-buy the sponges which saves a lot of money.

I find that not all seed starting trays are made the same – Park Seed’s system produces strong uniform seedlings that grow to a nice height (without limp stems).

They say that each sponge is enriched with oilseed extract for a little extra nutrition bump so perhaps that helps.

If your house is cold or doesn’t get much light in the winter, you can also use their heat mats and grow lights for supplemental warmth and sunlight.

I find that Park Seed’s sponges are the perfect size for my garden tower.

They’re shaped more cylindrically, and a little squatter – larger than the standard sponge that you use for countertop indoor gardens like Aerogarden or LetPot.

Instead, these sponges fit really nicely into most of the vertical hydroponic towers like the Farmstand, Nook, Counterstand and Gardyn.

Read more: How to Use Your Own Seeds in the Farmstand

Park Seed was originally founded in Pennsylvania by George Park.

As a 15 year old boy, he had the idea to sell some seeds from his backyard garden for some pocket money.

His early catalogs encouraged rural gardeners to form clubs and swap seeds – and even printed poems about nature.

He eventually married one of his customers (also a passionate gardener) and moved the company to her hometown in South Carolina.

Their sons took over the business and ran it from the the 19th century until the early 21st century.

Park Seed was sold in 2010 and merged with JPPA, a large South Carolina horticulture company.

Unfortunately they closed the retail store and trial gardens to shift the business entirely online.

But the company’s motto remains the same – to provide the finest seeds and plants for the home gardener.

Because their focus is entirely online, I find that Park Seed has a great shopping filter.

You can browse their seeds by type and filter by lots of characteristics. I typically select ‘dwarf’ and ‘compact’ varieties since I’m growing in a small space.

I recently started growing flowers indoors and they have a great flower selection!

Lots of these, like hyssop, viola and marigolds, are edible too.

Other varieties I’ve personally grown and liked are:

• sugar rush peach peppers: a unique hot pepper with a peachy pink color + tropical fruity flavor)
• butter crunch lettuce: my favorite lettuce variety because it’s super sweet with large leaves
• fairytale eggplants: pretty tear drop shaped eggplants that grow in purple clusters
• quick snack mini cucumbers: crunchy, compact and perfect for snacking, as the name suggests

Park Seed doesn’t offer free shipping, but their shipping rates are incredibly affordable at just $5.95 per order.

And they offer coupon codes so you can pretty much always save a little bit (or get a free gift with purchase) on your order!

Burpee Seeds

Pennsylvania

Burpee Seeds is one of the oldest and most popular seed companies in the US.

They were founded in Philadelphia in 1876, as a research based seed company focused on improving cabbage, celery, carrots and beans.

They’ve created countless vegetable, herb and fruit varieties that are well known and loved today, like

• the original Iceberg lettuce in 1894
• the first white marigold in 1975
• the biggest beefsteak tomato in 2014

Their historic farm in rural Pennsylvania is still a trial and research ground for developing new varieties.

Today, you can find their colorful seed packets in garden centers all across the country. 

tomatoes are one of my favorite things to grow inside my NYC apartment

Burpee’s prides themselves on their excellent seed germination rates.

They offer non-GMO seeds as well as natural hybrid seeds and also introduced the concept of ‘Victory Gardens’.

In addition to seeds, they also sell live plants, fertilizers, soil and support cages.

One of the nice things about Burpee’s is their low flat shipping rate ($3.95 on all seed packet orders).

Overall, they’re a great company to go to for classic varieties and helpful for small scale growers.

Amazon

Read more: How to Start an Indoor Garden, step by step

But I can find the same seed on Amazon and get it in 2 days with free shipping through Prime.

And, Amazon sells literally everything.

I’ve bought nutrients, raised garden beds and hydroponic gardens from them – so it’s a very convenient all-in-one shop.

They also carry brands like Burpee and Survival Garden Seeds, allow you to filter by USDA hardiness zone and seed type (non-GMO, heirloom, organic, etc). 

A lot of vendors will sell assortment packs, where you can buy all the vegetable seeds you need for your home garden in one bundle.

These are always really cheap, so they’re a great value.

But, germination rates can be hit or miss.

Since each product page has reviews, I recommend reading through what other people have to say to stick to the high quality options.

High Mowing Seeds

Wolcott, VT

High Mowing is most known for offering 100% organic seeds.

They created the Safe Seed Pledge in 1999, which asserts that their seeds are not genetically modified and spearheaded the effort to get 9 other seed companies to also sign on board.

Today, over 370 seed companies across the globe are on this list!

High Mowing sells high quality fruit, vegetable, herb and flower seeds.

They offer both open-pollinated heirloom varieties as well as hybrid options.

All of their seeds are regularly tested to ensure high germination rates and adequate resistance to disease.

Definitely check out their seed catalogs!

They feature fun profiles on the farmers, growers and gardeners that use their seeds and offer more of a personal touch into their products.

If you have a difficult time growing tomatoes, order some seeds from High Mowing.

They have a great selection of all different fun, colorful tomato varieties and they put so much effort into breeding tomatoes that they have their own collection called the Galaxy Suite.

Bred in collaboration with Phillip Griffiths from Cornell University, each Galaxy Suite tomato is designed to be vibrant, crack resistant and of course – delicious.

They’re available in all different colors, sizes and shapes too!

They’re a little pricey, but so much development goes into breeding new tomato varieties that I understand why seed companies charge so much when they do create something unique and magical.

And tomatoes are one of the easiest fruits to save seeds from.

High Mowing’s Galaxy Suite tomato seeds sell out very fast so be quick if you want to get your hands on some!

Read more: My Best Tips for Growing Tomatoes Indoors

Terrain

Terrain sells the most beautiful garden supplies, furniture and decor… plus seeds! 

They sell seed kits that are beautifully packaged and carry micro greens, vegetables, cut flowers, etc. These would make great gifts!

I also really like their planters, seed boxes and garden furniture.

Lowe’s

Lowe’s is another great affordable option!

If you just want basic garden seeds for common vegetable, herb and flower varieties they have an extensive range of seeds.

They also allow in store pickups and free returns, within 90 days which is pretty generous!

The convenient thing about shopping at Lowe’s is they also carry other garden supplies, plants and trees.

Home Depot

Home Depot sells seeds both online and in store, and they’re a convenient option because they have locations all over the country – even in NYC!

Their seeds are always competitively priced and they offer everything from vegetables to herbs and flowers.

Most of their seeds are the basic options, but I was pleasantly surprised to find they have dwarf and container-friendly varieties!

The nice thing about Home Depot is they also carry garden supplies and live plants, so you can grab everything you need in one place! 

Renaissance Farms

Bloomington, Indiana

Renaissance Farms specializes in tomatoes!

They have all sorts of open pollinated heirloom varieties, including beefsteak, bi-color, canning and cherry tomatoes.

What I really like is their container friendly options.

Typically compact tomato varieties are limited to micro dwarf tomatoes.

But Renaissance Farms has a good selection of container-friendly slicer tomatoes and larger sized tomatoes.

MIGardener

MIGardener was suggested to me by a reader and I was pretty impressed after I checked them out!

The company was started by the popular eponymous gardening channel and offers a huge selection of heirloom vegetable seeds. 

They have some really unique options, like Turkish Orange Eggplants, Ha’Ogen Melons and Danish Ball Head Cabbage.

All of their seeds have excellent germination rates, simple clean packaging and helpful growing information. 

And, each product page allows customers to leave reviews, so you can get an idea of how the seeds have performed and what people thought of the plant’s taste and ease of growing.

Overall, MIGardener is a great company for home growers to order from! All orders over $12 ship free.

Victory Seeds

Irving, Texas

Victory Seeds is a popular seed company for home gardeners and small growers.

The family-owned seed company sells direct to gardeners, so you won’t find their seeds at any garden center or big box stores.

They place a huge emphasis on freshness, quality and high germination rates and work with a selected network of growers to ensure great quality seeds.

All of their seeds are stored under climate controlled conditions and shipped direct to customers.

And everything they offer is open pollinated, non-GMO and heirloom so they’re a great resource for hard to find varieties.

Victory Seeds primarily focus on vegetable seeds, but also offer herb and flower seeds. They have an extensive catalog, but their website makes sorting and browsing quite easy! 

In particular, I like Victory Seeds for their selection of dwarf tomato seeds.

A group of volunteer hobby gardeners led by Craig LeHullier and Patrina Nuske-Small work to breed and cultivate compact tomatoes.

These are tomato varieties that can grow in containers, small spaces or even indoors and taste better than their full size counterparts!

Victory Seeds now offer over 150 types of dwarf tomatoes, including full size slicers and tomatoes of all colors.

Victory Seeds also has some rare heirloom varieties and hard-to-find seeds like grains, cover crops and tobacco.

Seed Savers Exchange

Iowa

Seed Savers Exchange is an heirloom seed company.

Founded in Missouri in 1975, the company started with two gardeners and expanded to form a network of growers interested in preserving heirloom varieties.

Today, the company has over 13,000 members saving seeds from over 20,000 plants!

The nonprofit company’s mission is focused on preserving biodiversity in food crops.

Over 75% of the world’s edible plant varieties have been lost in the last century, as large scale commercial farms have grown and more genetically engineered crops are used. 

So Seed Savers works to collect and store rare seed varieties and create America’s largest non-governmental seed bank. 

They even have a display garden in Iowa, where you can see where a lot of their work takes place!

Seed Savers Exchange has a gorgeous catalog and yearbook.

If you join and become a member, you can find all sorts of niche varieties of plants and share with other members across the country.

Their online store has a huge variety of vegetables, flowers and herbs, and ships nationwide. 

Johnny’s Seeds

Winslow, Maine

Johnny’s is very popular with market gardeners and homesteaders – anyone with large garden plots as they offer bulk seed pricing. 

They sell dependable, disease-resistant varieties and focus on market crops with short maturity dates.

All of their seeds are non-GMO and include both organic and heirloom varieties.

For small seed varieties (like lettuces, carrots and onions), you can even purchase the pellet form.

This makes sowing easier, especially for farmers using mechanical seeders.

Johnny’s is headquartered in Maine and unique in that they’re owned by employees!

In 2006, workers were able to purchase a piece of the company through Johnny’s employee stock ownership plan and as a result it’s run by passionate, dedicated workers.

On their website, seeds are easy to sort, filter and save to cart via ‘quick order’.

If you need growing advice, they have an extensive online library of tips, instructional videos and planning calculators. 

Fedco Seeds

Clinton, Maine

Fedco is another employee-owned seed company.

The co-op style seed company is directly owned by its worker members, who receive a share of the profits via annual dividends.

Based in Maine, Fedco specializes in cold hardy plant varieties that are specially adapted for harsh climates.

So if you also live in a region with a short growing season, browse their seed offerings!

They offer organic and heirloom vegetables, all reasonably priced, as well as bulbs, live plants, trees, seed potatoes and onion sets.

The company is only operational seasonally, so they’re one to shop early.

If you wait too long, they’ll often be sold out!

Fedco also has a unique catalog to check out, if you’re someone who prefers to browse physical books.

They offer 3, based on each division, and have a unique black and white style catalogue with lots of hand drawn illustrations and occasional political messaging. 

Fedco is great for both home growers and large farmers and shipping is cheap!

When Is the Best Time to Shop for Seeds?

The dead of winter is a good time to start planning your summer garden and begin placing orders. 

Start your seeds indoors, six to eight weeks before your last frost date.

You can check out the USDA Plant Hardiness map for your area to determine when to plant your seeds. (If you’re gardening entirely indoors, you don’t need to worry about timing!)

Towards the end of spring, garden centers and seed companies have limited inventory left and start discounting garden products.

So I also buy seeds when they go on sale, to use for next year!

How Long Do Seeds Last

Good seed companies will sell fresh seeds so that you get the highest rate of germination.

But even if you don’t use all the seeds right away, they should last a couple years!

You’ll get the best germination rates in year one, but it’s not unheard of to still grow plants from seeds that are up to 10 years old.

How to Store Seeds

I like to put all my seeds in one big seed binder, grouped by vegetable category, so they’re in one place.

You don’t need anything fancy though – a sealed plastic bag to keep out moisture works well too.

Place your seeds in a cool, dark place (like your fridge or freezer) to prolong their shelf life.

Before planting old seeds, you can test them to see if they’re still viable!

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