The Popular Seller You Should Avoid Buying Your Seeds From

Many gardeners enjoy saving money and getting great deals that will free up their hard-earned paychecks for other necessities. In fact, thriftiness is often what motivates gardeners to grow their own food from seeds or to start shrubs for their yards from cuttings or divisions. But trying to save cash by buying seeds from untrustworthy vendors can backfire — and that's why gardeners should avoid buying seeds from Temu and similar online stores. While another motivation for buying seeds from Temu can be the prospect of finding unique color varieties never seen before, these fantastical plants usually prove to be too good to be true.

A surprising number of unsuspecting gardeners have fallen into the trap of shelling out their dollars on Temu for seeds that didn't turn out to be the plants the gardener expected. We're not talking about mix-ups that could easily be chalked up to packaging mistakes. Instead, the inconsistencies that occur with Temu seeds are more akin to fraud. For instance, one user on Reddit who didn't know to avoid buying from Temu purchased a mix of tree seeds but received a pack of what appeared to be dyed pepper seeds. Along with their reputation for sending out the wrong types of plant material, one thing you should know before buying on Temu is that this company also advertises seeds for plants that simply can't be grown from seed, such as roses with rainbow colored petals — meaning some of their listings are scams.

Gardeners with experience will quickly recognize if seeds purchased through Temu don't match the seeds received, but some newbies won't know any better. At best, these unwitting buyers are out a few dollars, but at worst, they are introducing dangerous invasive plants into their gardens — or harmful plant diseases and pests. In the U.S., seed sellers have to test certain seed crops to make sure they meet quality standards and are free from diseases such as mosaic viruses. By contrast, Temu ships many of its goods directly from China, and mislabeled seeds are unlikely to have undergone the proper protocols for importing plant material into the U.S. There is no guarantee that the seeds are a safe, non-invasive species, nor that they have been tested for pathogens, so purchasing or planting seeds from Temu should be avoided.

Gardeners can instead turn to local seed companies with a long history of doing business and a good reputation among experienced gardeners. The best companies to buy your garden seeds from in the U.S. include seed sellers like Baker Creek, a Missouri company established in 1998 that has a wide following among heirloom seed enthusiasts. With an entire catalog of certified organic seeds, High Mowing Organic Seeds is based in Vermont and has been doing business since 1996. Botanical Interests is another champion of both heirloom and organic varieties, and has been providing gardeners with reliable seeds from Colorado since 1995.