Not-So-Slick Catalogs Find Rare Uses for Seed Money

Every January when the new year’s catalogs arrive, I thumb through the big-name glossies and gaze at their color photos of perfect gardens. But then I pick up the smaller, lesser-known catalogs, and I find them more intriguing.

Catalogs from Fancy Fronds, Ronniger’s Seed Potatoes and Tomato Growers Supply don’t boast full-color spreads, but they are chock-full of hard-to-find specialty varieties and little-known facts on how to grow them.

The downside: Many specialty catalog companies are small and individually owned, so a nominal fee to cover postage is often requested. This also means a limited number of each plant is usually propagated, making availability limited. Most companies gladly propagate plants on request, however.

Whether you fancy tomatoes, potatoes, ferns or roses, there is probably a specialty catalog to fit your interests. Here is a sampling of some of those hidden jewels.

Aquatic Plants

* Van Ness Water Gardens, 2460 N. Euclid Ave., Upland, CA 91784, (909) 982-2425. Full-color catalog costs $4.

This company specializes in the necessary ingredients of ponds and the equipment to build them. It carries aquatic plants, such as 50 waterlily varieties, six types of oxygenating grasses (that oxygenate the pond and absorb carbon dioxide), snails, bog plants such as irises that grow in shallow mud, and a variety of fish, including koi.

Van Ness also sells the accessories needed to create ponds and maintain them, including pond fertilizer, liners, preformed ponds and pumps.

Azaleas / Camellias

* Nuccio’s, P.O. Box 6160, Altadena, CA 91003, (818) 794-3383. The catalog costs $1 to cover postage.

This company carries more than 500 varieties of camellias and azaleas, including hard-to-find types such as a number of Satsuki azaleas and the yellow camellia ‘Chrysantha,’ which isn’t carried anywhere else. Several fragrant camellia varieties are available.

Plants are shipped bare-root in sizes ranging from 12 inches to 3 feet.

Cactuses

* Mesa Garden, P.O. Box 72, Belen, NM 87002, (505) 864-3131. Web site: https://www.demon.co.uk/mace/cacmall.html. For a list of available seeds and plants, send two first-class stamps.

Mesa Garden carries about 4,000 varieties of cactuses and succulents, including hard-to-find plants. Some areas of specialty include Mesembryanthemums (ice plant) and aloes. It also has a selection of lithops, which are succulents that resemble rocks.

Ferns

* Fancy Fronds, P.O. Box 1090, Gold Bar, WA 98251, (360) 793-1472. Catalog, $2; comes with a coupon worth $2 off first order.

This company carries more than 80 hard-to-find ferns and specializes in temperate ferns, tree ferns and Victorian cultivars. According to company’s owner Judith Jones, though ferns have a reputation for being “iffy and fussy,” most of the ferns she carries do well in the garden, are easy to care for and are long-lived.

Fruit Trees / Nuts

* Raintree Nursery, 391 Butts Road, Morton, WA 98356, (360) 496-6400. Free catalog.

Raintree carries fruit, nut and berry trees and shrubs and vines. You’ll find unusual varieties like the Smyrna quince tree, crabapple trees and lingonberries, which is a ground cover that produces cranberry-like berries.

Other offerings include persimmons, plums, alpine strawberries, grapes, apricots, peaches, blueberries, cranberries, currants, raspberries, blackberries and figs.

Nuts include filberts, hazels, walnuts, chestnuts, and unusual nut trees such as the monkey puzzle tree from Chile.

* Sonoma Antique Apple Nursery, 4395 Westside Road, Healdsburg, CA 95448, (707) 433-6420; fax (707) 433-6479. Free catalog.

This company specializes in fruit trees, including older and more unusual varieties of apples, pears, peaches, plums, figs, quince and some persimmons. It also carries berries, including blueberries and ollalieberries, and table grapes.

Geraniums

* Geraniaceae, 122 Hillcrest Ave., Kentfield, CA 94904, (415) 461-4168. Catalog, $3.

This small nursery specializes in geraniums and their cousins, pelargoniums and erodiums. They have more than 300 types of geraniums, which serve a variety of purposes.

Some are good for rock gardens; others make excellent ground covers; some do well in shade.

They also carry more than 100 varieties of scented leaf pelargoniums in scents such as rose, lime, ginger, peach, lemon, peppermint, nutmeg, oak, strawberry, apricot and coconut. And there are 35 erodiums available.

Kiwi

* Valley Vista Kiwi, 16531 Mt. Shelly, Fountain Valley, CA 92708, (714) 839-0796, evenings only. For a catalog, send a self-addressed, stamped, business-sized envelope.

This company has what is possibly the largest collection of kiwi and jujubes in the Western Hemisphere. Commonly known as Chinese dates, jujubes are very popular in China. They are easy to grow and take many soil and weather conditions, says company owner Roger Meyer.

Although kiwis are perceived as a tropical plant, most are not, he says. Many grow well in the Bay Area.

Besides the common green kiwi, the company carries a red-skinned variety and a kiwi with bright yellow flesh. Some types have fuzzy skin, others are slick. They primarily ship kiwi scion wood, although they do have six varieties that come bare-root. The jujubes are shipped bare-root. Orders are sent out from January through early March.

Native Plants

* Las Pilitas Nursery, Las Pilitas Road, Santa Margarita, CA 93453, (805) 438-5992; fax (805) 438-5993. Free plant list. The catalog is a reference book that gives hard-to-find information on how to deal with natives, including planting, amending, watering and general care. It costs $8.

Las Pilitas has between 500 and 1,000 native species of plants. According to the company owner, Bert Wilson, few people have heard of their plants.

“Many people think natives in their area are the weeds they see down the street, but that’s often not the case,” he says. “Native plants that grew at the time of the American Indians are attractive plants that do so well in their native areas that they can be planted and need no maintenance.”

Oriental Greens

* Kitazawa Seed Co., 1111 Chapman St., San Jose, CA 95126, (408) 243-1330. Free catalog.

Kitazawa carries hard-to-find Asian vegetables, including Mitsuba, which is Japanese parsley and Shungiku, a dark green culinary herb with aromatic leaves.

The company also has many types of mustard, peas, Asian squash, Chinese cabbage and cucumbers such as the Armenian yard-long cucumber. Varieties of daikon radishes are available, as well as Tokyo market turnips.

Potatoes

* Ronniger’s Seed Potatoes, Star Route, Moyie Springs, ID 83845. Free catalog. No phone orders.

This company offers a wide variety of potatoes. Although they have standards like russets, you’ll also find many rare heirlooms that come in a variety of shapes and sizes. There are red, white, gold, blue and purple potatoes.

You’ll also find varieties such as the fingerlings, which grow two to 6 inches long. These heirloom potatoes are said to have been brought from Peru in the late 1700s by Spanish explorers.

Roses

* Jackson & Perkins, P.O. Box 1028, Medford, OR 97501, (800) 292-4769. Free catalog.

You’ll find hard-to-find roses that will fit just about any landscaping situation. In addition to traditional hybrid teas, the growers carry miniatures, tree roses, patio roses, floribundas, hedge roses and climbers. They also have a variety of novelty roses, such as English and vintage roses.

Tomatoes

* Tomato Growers Supply Co., P.O. Box 2237, Fort Myers, FL 33902, (941) 768-1119. Free catalog.

This company has more than 300 varieties of tomatoes. Besides well-known varieties like ‘Beefsteak’ and ‘Early Girl,’ they have rare heirloom tomatoes, as well as many unusual hybrids.

You’ll find selections like ‘Enchantment,’ which is an egg-shaped, 3- to 4-ounce fruit. The company also carries tomatoes that grow well during the winter months here, including San Francisco Fog, which produces in cool, wet coastal conditions, Oregon Spring V, Pilgrim, Siberia and Stupice.