We Will Always Come Back to our Roots

Our 2025 spring cover is meant to honor the landrace breeding program at our trial and research farm. Customers may notice our nod to our 2005 cover by Richard Laycock, which seemed fitting to acknowledge on its 20th anniversary. This year’s cover, painted by Dan Knepper, serves as a visual representation of how Territorial Seed Company will continue to evolve but we will always come back to our roots.

Acknowledging our past…

Territorial had yet to develop its first true leaves when Julie and I purchased the company from Steve Solomon in 1985, who started the business six years earlier. He had a small warehouse and test garden on his five-acre homestead in Lorane, Oregon. There was a lot to learn about running a small mail order seed company, but the best part was growing and evaluating all the cool seed varieties. Some of these varieties we still produce today, and we honor their history with Territorial by featuring a few on this year's catalog cover. 

Territorial’s first seed growing projects were with fava beans in the early 1980’s. We selected and multiplied a fava variety we named Sweet Lorane with trial seed obtained from the (now called) US Plant Genetics Resource Unit (PGRU) while still in Lorane. It was unique because it was the only small-seeded fava we found that tasted great, making it dual purpose for cover cropping and fresh eating.

In 1985, we started our relationship with Dr. Jim Baggett from Oregon State University. Jim had recently released Oregon Spring, a determinate parthenocarpic (seedless) tomato, but there were no home garden seed companies at that time that could produce it. In fact, major seed producers had no interest in this non-commercial type. We took on this project and, with Jim’s help, we successfully produced the seed. Our rapport and strengthening relationship with Jim led to Territorial being the first seed company to grow and offer other “Baggett releases” such as Oregon Star and Legend tomatoes, Pizza Pepper, and many others.

Our ever-expanding trials and a strong desire to grow our own seed, quickly made a larger and permanent land base necessary, and we were fortunate to purchase farm ground close to our own family homestead. In 1987, we established this undeveloped property as London Spring Farms, which is home to our organic seed and plant production operation and Territorial’s organic trial and research facility. Territorial’s farm staff have also selectively bred, and named, new seed varieties such as Umpqua broccoli and Aunt Molly’s ground cherry, which are still popular to this day.

In the early 1990’s we were given the original stock seed of Sweet Meat and Sugar Hubbard, bred in the 1940’s by the Gill Brothers Seed Company out of Portland, Oregon, from seedsman Sandy Fraizer. After studying Gill’s original catalog descriptions and several years of multiplying the seed we were able to reintroduce these hefty winter squash to our customers. Over the years, we have conducted selection and landrace breeding improvement work on hundreds of open-pollinated and heirloom crops. Our goal has been to revitalize familiar but neglected varieties, restoring them to their true type and selecting for the original breeder traits that make growing them worthwhile. A goal that we don’t see shifting for Territorial any time soon.

My wife Julie and I, and now our kids Jake and Farren, have owned and operated Territorial Seed Company for over 40 years. If it wasn’t for the gray in my beard I wouldn’t believe it.
-Tom Johns

As we look towards our future…

Clearly, we are no strangers to change at Territorial. As we look back on the history of our company, many of our customers will recall these humble beginnings when our catalog was printed in black and white and product descriptions were accompanied by illustrations, not photographs. Territorial’s first seed catalog, over 45 years ago, provided solid organic growing information and supplies to help gardeners be successful at growing healthy plants in healthy soil. Our catalog today is not only full of colorful photographs, but we’ve continued to fill those pages with updated culture information and build on a foundation of products we know will reliably produce fresh-from-the-garden food for our customers.

Another area that has continued to evolve throughout the life of our company has been the trial and research farm. In 1988, Tom and Julie would share an update with our customers about a trial farm expansion to a new plot of land in London, Oregon. This change would allow the business to put down roots where we would expand upon our trial and research program as well as increase our own seed production. All of this was for you, our customers. We wanted to be certain we were always able to provide reliable growing information that was firsthand. Alongside this, we were passionate about keeping seed varieties alive that were falling by the wayside because of a lack of interest in them on a commercial scale. Our customers were home gardeners, and the majority continue to be to this day—because of that, we still maintain some of those original seed lines seen in our first catalogs. Our research farm has become this wonderful example of searching for change while maintaining the past, something that will continue to ring true for us as our company officially entered its 2nd generation of ownership in 2022.

Jake and I always do our best to stay true to where we came from and acknowledge those, such as founder Steve Solomon, who brought us to where we are today. Our parents, Tom and Julie, worked tirelessly to grow the company into what many know it to be now and continue to be constant supporters of our ideas and passions as we work to keep Territorial Seed in the minds of gardeners. However, it’s not just our founder and owners that have brought us to where we are now. From the time a seed is planted at our farm, crops harvested and cleaned, seed packaged in an envelope, to orders picked, and shipments sent—a Territorial employee is part of every single step. We’ve been grateful for the many employees we’ve worked with over the years, some of whom we’ve known our whole lives, and the thought of them not being here was a scenario that was hard to imagine. In 2011, Tom and Julie acknowledged our “original crew” from Territorial’s humble beginnings—Matthew, Barb, and Kathy. This year we said a bittersweet congratulations to the last member of that crew as she officially retired. For Jake and myself, as now owners, this was probably one of the most difficult changes we’ve experienced so far. Seeing each of these employees embark on the next journey in their lives was like saying goodbye to family. 

There is so much value in our past. We can’t say that other changes will never happen—that seems impossible in the fast-paced landscape of today. However, we can say that we will always do our best to stay true to where we came from and acknowledge those who brought us here. Throughout our lives we get comfortable with the constant presence of certain things or people, but change is inevitable. For us, we choose to use our past and the people who’ve contributed to it as a guiding light.

Territorial will continue to evolve but we will always come back to our roots.
-Farren Johns

Shop varieties selected and produced by our farm here.