Botanical Interests Seed Collection Giveaway

Botanical Interests was a new seed company for me when I hosted a giveaway of their seeds last year. Since then I’ve had a chance to grow their seeds. My favorite has got to be the Lauren’s Grape poppy. It is gorgeous paired up with ‘Dark Towers’ penstemon.

Over 300 Kinds of Seeds

But Botanical Interests sells much more than poppies. They sell all kinds of flowers, as well as vegetables and herbs. You can also search on their website for organic seeds and those of North American native flowers. They are even working with botanic gardens to offer seeds of “species that are rare and endangered or may become so if not maintained.” And their website search engine makes finding what you want a breeze. Update: You can now request a print catalog as well.

Attractive and Informative Packets

And have you seen their seed packets? Botanically accurate artwork on every packet, and detailed information both outside and inside the seed packet. Some of that artwork is now featured on canvas grocery bags.

They Know Social Media

If I’m really honest, though, what I like most about Botanical Interests is how social media savvy they are. They were one of the first seed companies on Twitter and took the initiative contacting me and several other garden bloggers last year for their first seed giveaways. They are also on Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, and Ning. They’ve even created an iPhone app that lets you search their site for growing information and gardening tips. (I don’t have an iPhone. I just have iPhone envy.)

The Giveaway

This year Botanical Interests has started offering seed collections. Each collection is organized around a theme, such as Fragrant Flowers or Cat Lovers, and is attractively wrapped for gift presentation. I’m already thinking Mother’s Day, housewarming, and thank you to the outgoing president of the garden club. Really, any plant lover or potential plant lover would be thrilled. And even if–perish the thought–the recipient chose not to sow the seeds, the artwork is a pleasure in its own right. There are typically six to ten seed packets in each collection, and they are all under twenty dollars. Botanical Interests is giving away one seed collection of the winner’s choice.

How to Enter

1. Go to the Botanical Interests website and look over their themed seed collections.
2. Come back here, and in a comment, tell which collection(s) you like and why. (Only one collection is being given away, but you’re allowed to like more than one.) Make sure you enter your name and a valid email address in the comment form. It is the only way I have to contact you if you’re the winner.
3. Extra credit! Tweet this giveaway on Twitter and in a separate comment include the link to your tweet. (Click on the date stamp of the tweet to get a url you can paste in your comment.)
4. Giveaway ends at midnight on Sunday, January 17, 2010 as determined by the datestamp on the comments. One winner will be randomly chosen from all valid comments and announced on Monday, January 18, 2010.
5. The winner’s email will be given to Botanical Interests and they will email the winner to ask for their postal address. Currently Botanical Interests can only ship seeds to the United States, so you must have a U.S. shipping address to win. (They hope to ship to Canada soon, but the details haven’t all been worked out yet.)

Have fun, and good luck! The giveaway is over. Winner was announced here.

FTC Disclosure: Botanical Interests has sent me a seed collection without charge.