Demo for Chiltern Seeds

[Lyn and Malcolm]

Some of them George
Apologies for any wrong spellings 

.....................................................
Geranium sobolifera
Rhodochiton
Browallia speciosa
Belamacandra chinensis
Echinacea White Swan
Echium Pink Fountain
Mirabilis Jalapa
Echinacea Primadonna
Cestrum Lady of the Night
Agastache aurantiaca
Dahlia Bishops Children
Agastache Golden Jubilee
Ricnis New Zealand purple
Maurandia scandens
Cosmos sulphurus
Verbena corymbosa
Veronica longifolia
Campanula primulifolia
Azorina vidali
Lobelia tupa
Rudbeckia hirta
Cornflower
Cosmos sensation mix
Tomato sunsets red horizon
Tomato black tula
Tomato romanescoe
Tomato alicante
Pepper sweet chocolate
Pepper gypsy
Catalpa
Ipomoea Heavenly blue
Ipomoea Fuji mix
Ricnis communis

Malcolm

[ideasguy]

Nice selection! If its not too personal a question, where did you buy from?

Snap on a number of seed:
Dahlia Bishops Children
Veronica longifolia
Cornflower
Ricinis communis


and I already have these 3:
Mirabilis Jalapa (has never flowered for me, in 2 seasons - bought as tubers. Might well be the Marvel of Peru, but not here in wet Ireland!)

Catalpa (grown from Chiltern seed! Now an 8ft small tree - no flowers/beans yet  )

Ricnis communis - grew these before (no doubt you have too). They were slow to grow, then leaped at end of season. Very VERY nice plants, lovely handsome architectural foliage and lovely flowers. Died over first winter. In fact, I lost my first early sowing when hit by a late frost, and they were well on in the cold greenhouse.

[Lyn and Malcolm]

Seeds from

Chiltern
Jungle seeds
Plant World
Some of our own

Mirabilis Jalapa we grew from seed early last year, flowered last summer in a pot, cut down and stored in same pot overwinter dry. Knocked out the pot last weekend, three huge tubers, potted up see if they do alright this year.

We have never been able to overwinter the Ricnis, but they are so easy to grow anyway, the New Zealand Purple is better than communis (I reckon.)

[ideasguy]

I love that New Zealand Purple ricinus and will try it this year!!
Just realised I didnt process all the plants on your webiste  and as a result dont have a link to that photo in the Chiltern Catalog!
I did a quick check and see it on your WPG Plants list, with very imformative notes    

RE: Mirabilis Jalapa
The tubers - like big carrots? From memory, almost black?
Mine are outside all winter in that pot  If they've survived that, then they are marvels, and I'll give them another chance 

[ideasguy]

Another massive exercise now complete.
The Chiltern 2009 catalog is ready for download.

http://www.cultivars.co.uk/Catalogs/Chitern-dl.exe

Comments would be much appreciated!

[NightHawk]

We've just done our first Mail Order for seeds using George's Chiltern Seeds Catalog feature in IG Pro.

We used the 2008 catalog as we have been granted these prices for using the Mail Order/Snail Mail system.  If you order this way, Chiltern will see that the order has come from someone using the Catalog software, as the program produces an easily recognised Mail Order form.  If you order directly from Chiltern's web site you pay 2009 prices and they don't know the order has come from one of us.

It was a trouble-free procedure, so easy to do, and at the end of which we printed out the order form.  As a check, we compared the seeds that Kathy wanted in the 2008 Chiltern printed catalog they had sent us last year, and the Reference Numbers for each item matched those on our printed Order Form. 

If you're looking to buy some seeds this year, and you haven't already done so, give this catalog system a try.  George has put so much exhaustive work into getting this project to completion, that I think we owe him at least a token order.  This is the only way to make Chiltern see the benefits of supporting this system, and if successful enough maybe they will spread the word to other seed/plant suppliers to get on-board too.

The Order Form is in an envelope waiting to be posted.  A 4 to 7 day delivery time is quoted.

Laurie.
 

[Lyn and Malcolm]

Our order for Chiltern seeds has just now been produced by using Georges IGPro software.
First time I have used the ordering, as last year we had already sent our order before George had finished the software.

Found it easy to use, and particularly like the ability to Google the plant you want seeds of while compiling the order.

I do think the printout for the order should show that the order has been produced by IGPro, in a much more prominent way. It is quite small at the bottom of the page.

Thanks George

Malcolm

[NightHawk]

I do think the printout for the order should show that the order has been produced by IGPro, in a much more prominent way. It is quite small at the bottom of the page.

I think that is a very valid point Malcolm.

We used IG Pro last year to order seeds from Chiltern and, indeed, it was very simple to use.

Over to George to see what he thinks about his advertising layout on the Order Form   (It seems you can never be too pushy these days  )

Laurie.

[ideasguy]

Thats great Malcolm, and thanks for reviving this topic.
.
I should explain that Malcolm and I have been communicating by email about his seed order for 2010.
I enquired when he normally ordered his seed, as I wanted to try and revive this project this year.
The reply came back that he was using the software to do it now!

OK, got to get a move on in case others are in the same rush and explain whats happening!

Ive been in contact with Pat at Chiltern Seeds discussing this project.
They downloaded the Flower Genie software and the Chiltern (downloadable) Catalog during the summer.

The response was:

...as a company, Chiltern Seeds do not propose investing financially into putting our catalogue onto a CD or indeed incorporating it into any other electronic format other than the Chiltern Seeds website. 

and further in the email:

However, if you so wish, we are grateful and happy for you to include our products in your database and developing software, along with products from other companies that you are also in communication with.

Having spent at least 12 months developing the Catalogs software, and at least three months producing the Chilten catalog for 2009, I have decided to continue to include the Chiltern Products in the downloadable Catalog listings for 2010.

Earlier this week Pat informed me it will be a couple of weeks before the 2010 catalog is ready. When received,I'll apply the changes and get it published as a download.

Knowing some folk placed their orders very early last year I asked if the same offer negotiated last year could be applied for 2010.
The answer was Yes, provided there is a reference to our software somewhere on the order.

So, heres the details of the offer and how to take advantage of it:
a) Order from the 2009 downloadable Catalog using Ideas Genie,Flower Genie or Bonsai Genie software
b) produce a Hard Copy order using the software (there is a reference at the bottom of the page - albeit small)
c) pay by cheque
d) post (snail mail) the order and cheque to Chiltern Seeds

If you use the software to order on line, the shopping cart will charge 2010 prices.
There is no method (that I know of) that will indicate that customers have used the IG software to order on line.
Ive asked Pat if it was possible for users to enter a Code of some kind to identify the origin of the sale.

I would be very grateful for your support in this project. If it looks promising and folk show interest,I will approach other seed suppliers and plant suppliers to offer a similar demo.

RE:

Over to George to see what he thinks about his advertising layout on the Order Form

I'm quite happy as long as it appears at the bottom of that page, Malcolm and Laurie.
The order form itself is pretty distinctive, so Chiltern will have no problem recognising it.

I'm delighted you found it easy to use, Malcolm! That is a huge relief.
Theres more I could do to improve it, but there would be more incentive if others get as enthusiastic about it as me.
e.g. Ive loads of photos to process yet, and as you know its the visuals that sell plants.

Thanks again all!