I don't Know what country you are in, but the magazine produced by the
BBC, Gardener's World ( UK) - already mentioned cannot IMHO be beaten.
Just the right balance of leisure gardening advice and scholarship -
and the presence of a goodly number of professional whizz-kids to offer
PRACTICAL advice.

Our Alan (Titchmarsh) of Groundforce fame still contributes - and
besides being sex-on-legs(to the ladies), as an ex teacher at the Royal
Botanical Gardens, Kew he is no horticultural slouch.

For the more scientifically or seriously inclined "The Garden", the
house magazine of the Royal Horticultural Society is excellent -
although the contents go beyond the backyard gardener's requirements -
but if you want to know how the i's are dotted and the t's crossed it
is ideal. They also report on the RHS comparative trials to find the
most "gardenworthy" species or cultivars of individual genera of
plants.

Of course if you are not in the UK some of the information is not
directly relevant, but the magazines above are excellent reads. See if
you can get hold of a sample copy.

The best thing is to get a sample copy of as many magazines as possible
- cheap back-numbers being acceptable - to find out which one(s) best
suits in terms of content,style and scholarship ( or lack of it? ) -
and then subscribe - buying at the newsstand is such a lottery these
days - as most seem to order only sufficient copies of magazines to
satisfy their guaranteed market.

The problem I have found with "free gifts" is twofold. Sometimes seed
offerings are rather old ( unsold) stock and germination may be
erratic. However the main problem is that you end up with the same
seeds/plants as everyone else - and usually pretty bland too.

I tend to buy my seeds/plants direct from the nursery- although I have
had some notable successes from chain Garden centres, and hardware
stores - notably Eidelweiss from the large chain Wilkinsons some years
ago- still growing strong - and I have never seen it offered anywhere,
(except mail order from specialist alpine nurseries) either before or
since.
However the Garden magazines usually carry information about new and
unusual plants and where to get them- and many specialist nurseries
advertise too.

Good Luck

malcolm from the UK







chuckie wrote:

Kate wrote:
Thanks for your help the reason I say gifts also, is because sometimes
I find discounts are helpful on products which would somewhat be quite
expensive do you think? I know Gardeners World offers a discount card.

Discounts are nice but getting wholesale pricing is the way to go.
usually you get more than you need but if you get your friends to help
buy a volume then you all win. A lot of companies allow you to mix and
match. Vendor licenses are not very much and you can make a little
money on the side as well. There are many possibilities.
Home and Garden is a very good magazine. I would suggest that for
general gardening practices. There are many magazines out there but
many of them are for professionals. And don't do you a lot of good.
Chuckie