NEW MARKET, Va. -- Maybe there should be an Academy Awards kind of event for people who create seed and garden catalogs. They certainly deserve it, having entertained and enlightened generations of growers with their carefully crafted prose and collector-quality pictures.

Catalog producers might be eligible for awards in creative mail-order categories during the most recent garden season, or for exceptional artistic and community contributions.

This may be the dormant period for outdoor gardeners -- but it's the busiest time of year for the thousands of nurseries selling seed and supplies online or in print catalogs.

Among still thriving mail-order pioneers are D. Landreth Seed Co., Baltimore, Md. (since 1784); Gurney's Seed and Nursery Co., Greendale, Ind. (since 1820); Park Seed Co., Greenwood, S.C. (since 1868); W. Atlee Burpee & Co., Warminster, Pa. ("131 years of catalogs") and J.W. Jung Seed Co., Randolph, Wis. ("Celebrating 100 Years of Growing").

Most of the big seed companies aren't about to abandon their print catalogs for the Internet, Randall Schultz, a spokesman for the Mailorder Gardening Association, said.

"They're the most efficient way to get buyers to their Web sites. Every year a bigger percentage of customers read the catalogs first, then go online to order. It's a very efficient way to process orders."

For the most part, these horticultural wordsmiths, well-grounded growers and plant-savvy photo editors deserve bouquets for the exceptional way they package information.

So, brighten the stage lights while some winners assemble front and center. Here they are, by category:

* Humor: Plant Delights Nursery Inc., Raleigh, N.C., http://www.plantdelights.com.

This catalog is a hoot, with features ranging from cover cartoons to the "special paid ad" by a fictional Shady Deals Nursery. But Plant Delights does offer an array of real plants and accessories to peruse once you've chuckled over the first reading.

* Content: Johnny's Selected Seeds, Winslow, Maine, http://www.johnnyseeds.com.

The producers of this 168-page catalog take pride in "superior product, research, technical information and service for home gardeners and commercial growers."

"Paging through a Johnny's catalog is like reading a garden book," an admiring competitor said. You'll find items ranging from a glossary of "oft misunderstood terms" to information about growing cover crops.

* Folksiest: Wood Prairie Farm, a family-run, organic-potato operation near Bridgewater, Maine, six miles from the U.S.-Canada border, http://www.woodprairie.com.

The smallish, colorfully illustrated catalog produced by owners Jim and Megan Gerritsen nudges the nostalgia nerves in all of us. Contents range from certified seed potatoes for the garden to flour, cake and muffin mixes stone-ground on the farm.

"We try to show the value of friendship, loved ones and people who work hard through the pages of our catalog," Jim Gerritsen said. "That's how life works in northern Maine and people are tapping into that."

* Photographs: Terra Nova Nurseries Inc., Tigard, Ore., http://www.terranovanurseries.com.

The colors leap off the pages of this catalog, which is printed on a thick, glossy paper stock. The images are the stuff of a flower photographer's workshop, vibrant and detailed.

Terra Nova specializes in "new, imported, variegated and outstanding colorful foliage perennials." Its redesigned Web site offers a high-resolution image library and scores of printable fact sheets.

* Edibles: The Cook's Garden, Londonderry, Vt., http://www.cooksgarden.com.

This catalog is written for "cooks who love to garden and gardeners who love to cook." Each edition is loaded with so many recipes they've been compiled into a "From the Cook's Garden" cookbook.

"We love color in the garden and on our plate," Ellen Ecker Ogden, co-founder of The Cook's Garden and cookbook author, said.

* Theme: Appalachian Flowers, Amesville, Ohio., http://www.AppalachianFlowers.com.

This online-only seller of pedigreed deer-proof heirloom flowers has built his marketing around the localized musings of pioneer women including Catherine Cather, who wrote about such things as how certain flowers got their names.

"Calendula," she told people, "because it blooms on the same calendar day every year, April 1."

"They're pedigreed because each one comes with the story of a woman who grew flowers," said Will Dewees, who reached into regional history for the theme. "Deer-proof in that deer don't bother them... For the ones that aren't perennial, someone had to cherish them enough, like the zinnias, marigolds and calendula, to save seeds all this time, treat them as heirlooms. And I live in Appalachia so that's where everything comes from -- the seeds and plants, the soil, the traditions of saving."

Contact Dean Fosdick at deanfosdick(at)netscape.net.