Online seed merchants

It's that time of year where I sort the old seeds, try to work out what might still be viable in the box, and buy some new. I've noticed though, that plant photography makes this all quite tricky. If I'm buying a plant I know, it's fairly straightforward. I find it, order it. Job done. But for anything I don't know the photos all tend to be close ups - which is absolutely secondary to what I want. I need to see the plant from 5 to 10 feet away generally. So I recognise that the sellers want to show their product in the best possible light. But it is often deeply misleading... Are there are retailers who do better on this than others? Thanks

 

I also like to see a photo of the plant from a distance to get a good visual idea of it. I don't know any online retailers who supply this. For a full plant picture search for the plant name on Google and then press the Images button. You will get hundreds of images of the plant, but again most of these are close-ups.

 

Chiltern Seeds catalogue still has very few pictures (in the centre) and is mainly text.
Thomson and Morgan used to be particularly bad for this, with their glossy colour catalogue. I stopped using them a couple of decades ago for that reason. may have changed these days.
These days I read the description and for further information use the internet to find pictures.

 

Yes - I'm googling now: as you say - not always great results there either! It's just a question of time I suppose. This year I'd like to be a bit more organised about visiteing gardens and taking notes as I go...seeing the real thing would be the best answer for me but it does take patience and organisation neither of which come too naturally...

 

I'm on Chiltern Seeds site right now and it was that which triggered my post! All those close ups - and absolutely no clue how big or expansive the flowers or plant really are other than '2 ft' for eg.

 

Probably the best way, some nurseries have a garden attached, but just wandering around a nursery gives you some idea.
These days with cameras in phones you can take a picture of the plant from the distance you want and another of the name tag.

 

I spent my early years experimenting, often bought seeds on description alone, no internet back then.

The other thing is plant size can be variable, especially seed grown plants.
Bedding plants tend to be more uniform in size and flower.

 

Online companies will design their sites to sell goods. A design that gives a higher proportion of sales per pages viewed is what is important. The online sector is a fast growing sector, with so much competition out there at the the click of a mouse, to much information does and can lead to fewer sales.

 

I copy the name and search on google images only takes about 5 seconds if that . Can't be doing with RHS size guide it is to vague.