Thank you for posting the information you found about Patterson onions. I too ordered Copra onion seeds from Johnnys and also received an additional package of Patterson onions with a not stating that Copra was to be discontinued in 2011. I've been searching the web for Patterson onions to find out more info but couldn't find anything. I planted both this past weekend and am looking forward to comparing how they grow. Rachel GrafixMuse's Garden Spot

I've ordered from several companies over the years. I'm growing more heirlooms and saving some seed these days, and last year I found a local nursery who was able to supply almost all the rest of what I needed. Having said that, of all the mail-order companies I've used, Johnny's is one of the best... if not THE best for all around gardening needs. The info they pack into their catalog and internet site are worth sending in an order if for no other reason than to say "thanks". I've used the Johnny's catalog as as garden handbook for years. None better!

Merry Christmas from me too! I got my Johnny's catalog as well but haven't had time to look at it. Two parties over 3 days and all. I love to grow peppers too. I have better luck with them than tomatoes. Unfortunately, I made a decision that my 2006 vegetable garden will be seriously downsized. We had an addition built (actually the size of our house doubled)and will be doing all the finish work ourselves. Because of the excavation work, I had to move a lot of my perennial garden--which gave me the idea to rework the entire garden into something new (except the vegetable raised beds). So all the perennials are being moved to a new garden in front of addition (which still needs major excavation work and paving) and I will be installing a rose garden in their place. I am crossing my fingers that the excavators get to work as soon as the ground thaws come spring, so I can get to work moving plants. With all this on my plate, and coming to the determination that the vegetable garden takes up the majority of my time spring and summer (sowing seeds, weeding, watering, fighting pests, harvesting, etc.), I need to scale back. Otherwise I will drive myself crazy. I plan on using a few of my raised beds for easy crops like lettuce, bush beans, etc. But the rest will be sowed with alfalfa. Hopefully the new gardens will be complete by 2007 and I can resume filling all 18 raised beds with vegetables.

Another note to Hudson...WY, I notice in your initial post to this thread that you say Johnny's Marbonne F1 is a version of "Marinade". That sounded strange, so I checked Johnny's catalog and found that it is actually from Marmande. Slight difference in spelling; big difference in provenance. Marmande is actually a very standard French heirloom and widely available. One thing I found out though, when looking into Rebelion, is that there are many Marmandes. One of the large French seed companies (this is off the top of my head, so please bear with my vagueness) had produced a hybrid using Marmande #27, an heirloom strain they had preserved for many years. So unless there is some kind of coordination between firms, I guess each of them has a whole library of minor variations, each called Marmande. Another thing I found out is that recently (say over the last ten years) there has been a trend for large French seed firms to issue "improved" hybrid versions of well-known heirlooms. I know there is one based on Rose de Berne (can't remember which company) and at least several others. I'm not sure these are really improvements though for anyone other than the large greenhouse producers. The descriptions of these new hybrids tend largely toward topics such as disease resistance, marketability, vigor, shelf life, etc. I agree those are all important factors and we should respect them but I suspect the one most important factor to the home gardener, i.e. flavor, often gets the short end of the stick. I guess the only way we will really know is to try some and that's what I was looking at when I tried Rebelion. What a disappointment, though others may be better. I did have a post some time ago, about when I was trying "the R word" about some other French varieties and the publicity linked to them but I can't find it now. If I locate it I'll reference it here.