Thank you Dave for quick service and quality of Crimson flowering broad beans seeds. You are so very thoughtful to include leaflets with advice how to get best results in various climates.
Been using them for years but they are just appallingly slow at getting an order out the door. It quite literally takes them at least 10 days to post your seeds, by which time you've missed your planting window. Going to look elsewhere in future I just can't wait that long.
I ordered seeds on the 27th feb from two different websites, the seed collection and another. The delivery from the latter was here in 3 days. It's now the 16th March and I'm still waiting for my seeds to arrive from seed collection. I only order from them when my regular suppliers are out of stock but this is the last time. Its not Aus Post, its… Read more
the seller with the delays. Do they come straight off a slow boat from china? Im starting to think so. Seed qty in packs are too small also, with no option to purchase a bulk pack so if you need 200 seeds and they come in a ten pack, you have to buy 20 packs. Ridiculous
Reviews with attachments
This is an edited review. Cheap seeds. Customer service improved significantly after the 1st email. The package arrived in a cute little box. Excited to find what I hope and pray are viable seeds. Have had seeds from them previously which sprouted so shouldn't be an issue. Thankyou for hearing my needs from the small community of Iron Knob.
Can Do Better Than This Company – POSITIVES - They have a good range of seeds at affordable prices. The botanical name is clearly stated on the seed packet. (Not all companies provide this basic information). They provide a lot of helpful information on their website and through their email newsletters. They invite feedback on their individual products on their website. They sell… Read more
additional gardening supplies on their website. NEGATIVES - The seeds are not always accurate. It is disappointing to spend 3-4 months growing seeds to find out they are not the product that you wanted or needed. This is a problem that seems to occur more often with this company than any other seed company that I have purchased seeds from. Their customer service could also be improved. CONCLUSION - This company is no longer my preferred seed company. Similar prices but better customer service at Boondie Seeds. And also fabulous service but higher prices at Veggie Garden Seeds.
Well under counted – Absolutely disappointing. Bought 3 x packs of chia seeds. Label descriptions indicate 300 seeds per pack. I don't know what methods they are using to count 300 seeds. But 127 seeds in a pack. Didn't even bother counting the other packs as they looks very identical in size to the first pack. $15 for what is supposed to be 900 seeds or there abouts… Read more
but instead maybe 450 to 500. Will never buy again from this company. Get a scale to weigh your seeds it would be more appropriate to the seed count
Quick reliable and good quality – Order arrived within two days. I bought seed sweet potato which arrives as good quality large tubers and a variety of seeds. Love the new packaging with the ‘best times to sow’ table on the pack.
- +2
Huge range of heirloom seeds to pick from. Wonderful! – I've placed 2 orders from The Seed Collection. One was for Strawberry runners, seed potatoes and growing bags. The second order was for seeds only. I touched base with The Seed Collection via email, and received an overnight response that addressed my query. If anything, I was impressed at the speedy response. I planted my Strawberry runners… Read more
immediately and only 2 out of 20 are looking a little shabby/slow off the mark, but the others are powering ahead. I usually expect around a 20-30% death rate for plants, based on climate variances, as I am in Queensland and these came from Victoria.
I appreciate the clear labelling of seeds and plants, and the detailed instructions enclosed in the box, on how and when to sow the seeds and how to plant and care for the live plants.
The best thing about the seeds I purchased is that they are all natural. non hybrid, non-GMO and no chemical treatments.
There was an era when Australia Post deliveries from Victoria to Queensland were overnight, or 2 days at the longest. Now it seems they are less efficient these days and are the reason behind lengthy delays between sending and delivery. Some parcels sit in a Victorian mail centre for the better part of a week before they move through to Queensland. In my opinion, The Seed Collection cannot be held responsible for postal delays - that's squarely on Australia Post.
I hope to update the photo section with produce and flower photos once the seeds have been sown and grow into something meaningful.
With my experiences so far, I'd highly recommend The Seed Collection.
In-depth reviews
I started buying from this company almost a decade ago. At that time most of the seed I ordered germinated well. I seem to recall a couple of bad seed packets either low germination or not as labelled but figured since the average price of the seed packet was $1, what did I expect? I always have the option to spend $3-4 per packet for a more… Read more
guaranteed result.
This year I did another order with them. It did take a little longer than expected for the seeds to ship, but hey that's life. I received them all, the packets are now nicely vacumn sealed and labelled. I planted some of each seeds. So far the rhubard have come up, the hollyhocks, the foxgloves, gypsophila, still waiting on the violas, but it's only been a week.
Based on this result and the fact most of their seed packets are still under $2@ I'm calling myself a happy customer. They do stock some varieties which are not easy to find elsewhere so I'm happy to take a chance that the odd packet might not be exactly as required as long as most of them are. The germination rates so far seem quite good and I'm glad to get some varieties the nurseries are not stocking.
Update - the carnations have all come up and the violas too. I now have 14 rhubarb plants out of a packet of 20 seeds. All of the seeds have germinated with very good rates. I will continue to buy from them.
mail order seeds/bulbs/cuttings – I simply Love this online seed store. They offer a few different varieties to Mr Fothergills and are cheaper overall. I have ordered a number of times through this online store and have Never been disappointed. I bought 6 lily bulbs and all 6 have come up beautifully. I also love how on their seed packets they tell you under which temperature… Read more
range to plant the seeds rather than the seasons. It makes a Lot more sense to do it this way. The website is extremely easy to use and there are a few different payment options. Paypal pay in 4 is the only way I can afford them. LOL. I go onto the website intending to buy only one or 2 packets of seeds and end up with about 10-15 packets. I'm hoping that soon they will be offering a very easy to grow raspberry plant again. It's a variety where you prune it basically back to the soil at the end of the season. They were also offering an easy grow black berry plant and a few different varieties of blueberry plants. Warning - blueberries go quickly and next in line is the easy grow raspberries. The Seed Collection also makes it easy to work out if a flower is edible or if you can grow a particular plant in a pot. I am continually amazed at the different varieties of plants - e.g it was on this website I found out that there is a basil variety that tastes like cinnamon. I can spend hours and hours on this website at any given time. The Seed Collection Always makes me smile and really lights my passion for gardening. Note - I am not a total gardening novice but I am not an expert either but man, I'm smiling so much writing this review, I feel complete calm and serenity and I haven't even put my hands it the soil yet today. HAPPY GARDENING EVERYONE.
- +1
Inexpensive for "Plant & Pray" Gardeners – A friend suggested I try the Seed Collection when I was bemoaning the price of seeds at regular brick & mortar retailers and nurseries. I was delighted with the huge range available, and pleasantly surprised at the $1+ cost per pack for a decent quantity of seeds for casual gardeners with light brown thumbs like me. P&P costs were also very… Read more
reasonable, starting from $2.50 for small seed packets or free delivery for purchases of $20 and over.
My initial order of a mix of vegetable and flower seeds in winter last year (2021) were a little delayed, but that was due to COVID, so I was pretty relaxed.
Germination rates? Variable, I'd say: - 2 types of asparagus seeds germinated (which I wasn't expecting) and are healthy ferns now - 3 types of beans germinated, but fruiting (beaning?) was very poor for 2 [My snow peas, snap peas, eggplants, tomatoes etc were producing prolifically, so I don't believe the cause was poor pollination.] - Sugar Baby watermelon germinated and produced prolifically - Garlic Chives were a no show - Everlasting Daisies & Billy Buttons were duds despite several tries - Gypsophilia germinated in my second try - Cucumber - germinated and produced prolifically
However, for the grand total of $18 that I paid for the 11 types of seeds and delivery, I'm pretty satisfied with playing The Seed Collection's garden roulette. In my very limited experience, higher priced premium seeds had not delivered better results.
Positive reviews
Very happy with their excellent customer service . Due to an error my shipment was nt recieved and they were happy to resend without issue. Recommended most highly for effort
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Excellent products provided in a responsible and ethical fashion – An excellent professional company that has a wide array of products available backed up by a highly ethical professional and responsible way of doing things and dealing with customers with integrity and honestly at all times. highly recommended.
Leaving...sadly – The sign in /password thing is not easy for me. I would like to use my own password because I don't understand the cut and paste procedure. Over-all, I would rate my previous germinating success at 80%....could be my fault. How on earth can you tell 1mm from 5mm depth?! I've enjoyed my experience with The Seed Collection
Negative reviews
Seeds did not germinate. I ordered around 20 packets of seeds and only the 2 packets of tomato seeds germinated. I am very disappointed because last year all the seeds I bought from Aldi germinated and grew, so I know it’s not anything I did. Waste of time and money. Won’t be ordering again.
I'm honestly not impressed. I spend hundreds of dollars on flower seeds and various dahlia tubers. Only some of the seeds germinated and way too many dahlia tubers were sent as incredibly small and shrivelled tubers. No visible eyes and definitely not viable for growing. Other tubers purchased from other sellers are thriving even though they were… Read more
planted after the ones from the seed collection. I definitely won't be a return customer in the coming years and will be sharing with friends and dahlia pages.
I bought enough packets of seeds to reach the free shipping. I think that was about 12 pkts. The only seeds that have germinated are Hollyhocks. Nothing else grew. I have very green thumbs plus I have a hothouse arrangement for a great starting point for my seeds and have an almost total success with store bought seeds. I thought I'd found a hidden gem with The Seed Collection. But sadly, the results were very negative. Sorry. I'll buy elsewhere.
Recent reviews
Overall delivering time from order to deliver takes to long. (11 Day's) – Took three day's for the products to be picked by The Seed Collection and passed to Australian Post for shipping. Due to Qty of the order this should have been quicker. Australia Post also took to long to deliver the product to QLD, other suppliers do it much faster.
Very slow delivery – Slow delivery. I should have first read reviews. I am about to order elsewhere, while waiting for my order to arrive. Some places deliver, free, within 4 days.
Why stinging nettles – Bought a range of vegetables and flowers. They all grew out identifical. The plant identifying app identified all the plants to be stinging nettles. Now we have to remove the weeds.
Shop somewhere else instead – Absolutely rubbish! Waited a couple of weeks for my seeds to arrive and when they hadn't I looked on their website which said to wait a month after the purchase date before contacting them as they wouldn't consider the package lost until a whole month had passed! I emailed them at the one month mark and they responded 2 days later with a 'sorry,… Read more
it must have gotten lost' email, they said they would resend my order but if the origional arrived in the mean time, "could you please return the second package back to us". Wild! They either loose packages all the time, or they simply don't send them and wait to see if anyone notices. Don't read the good reviews, I honestly don't believe they are real experiences.
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Seeds to grow at Home – These people supply seeds that have an almost total record of success in your garden. I have mostly bought vegetable seeds and consistently have a good harvest. Today it was peas I harvested, and last week it was potatoes. You can also keep some of your harvest to use as seeds for the following years, unavailable with most seeds you buy.
Tulips and daffodils – Ordered and received in great time, no fuss. About half of the tulips and daffodils I ordered came up some didn't at all, I ordered between 3-4 bulbs of each 1-2 popped up only, not sure why, could of been my garden soil which was new soil and compost added, so not sure, but I did love them when ones flowered, was lovely for colour in garden.
Absolutely terrible company – Recieved my order and went to use my new pen on my new labels, not happening. The pen is dry as an old bone. Emailed them using their form and they replied and offered a refund or replacement. Great, BUT WHEN I REPLIED TO THEM THEY HAD BLOCKED MY EMAIL ADDY. Well done guys, one way to not have to deal with a problem. Disgaceful, never buying there again. Once bitten twice shy.
Great service! – I ordered 400 plastic garden pots on Tuesday last week & they arrived on Friday morning! I was super impressed with the quality of the pots, the price & how quickly they were delivered! Will definitely be ordering again!
Just the right number of seeds for me – My gripe with most seed packets is that you get too many, and that you pay higher prices for more than you need or want. With the Seed Collection I am loving the low prices and the small number of seeds I get. I have a small garden and so when I grow lettuce I grow just 6 at a time; shallots, 15-20 at a time, etc, so each packet gives me several… Read more
small crops, just what I need. And I like growing unusual things, so I get my seeds for chervil, perilla, Natsuyo bunching onions, Serrano chillies, San Marzano tomatoes, etc etc from their very good range on offer. Love the prompt delivery by mail, too. No complaints yet, and so far I've placed about 10 orders without any problems. Recommended!
Problems contacting The Seed Collection – I tried to chase up an outstanding order and found the contact procedure for this business is really useless. Frustrated. They don’t answer their phone and there is no way to send them an email or any other means of finding what is going on
The seed collection will really have you collecting seeds! – I LOVE this store! Gone are the days of searching through garden centre seed racks or paying for pregrown plants ~ for a great price I can grow my own and get the satisfaction that comes with raising these bad boys up on my own! At this point, I am collecting seeds, I can’t help myself when they’re of such great quality AND a great price! I… Read more
cannot wait for delivery day, knowing I’m going to get so many new plants to grow, it’s so exciting looking through the website for what to grow next! I Have never had trouble germinating the seeds, the descriptions on the packets are very informative! Highly recommend this store for all your seed needs & highly recommend joining the mailing list! Every time I get an email it’s like a trigger - I just have to go for a quick look online! So many beautiful plants :)
Best garden site – I have bought from the Seed Collection for two years and have always been really happy with my purchases. The post is fast and the bulbs I have bought are in great condition when they arrive. The seeds all germinate at a high rate. Their prices are much cheaper than others and their packing and instructions all come on recyclable cardboard. I cannot see going anywhere else.
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