As I noticed the swollen white bulbs and the first green necks collapsing this week, I thought, Madalyn never lets me down. I think she’s my favorite. I should tell others about her.
Background:
Madalyn is an onion variety that comes from Enza Zaden, a vegetable breeding company based in the Netherlands. Madalyn seed is an F1 hybrid.
(How is F1 hybrid onion seed developed? See here.)
Eating qualities
Madalyn has a round to slightly elongated bulb that is medium to large in size. It’s considered a yellow onion. It’s not as mild and “sweet” as a Walla Walla, but neither is it as pungent as some of the whites and reds.
It’s a versatile onion for my family, as we use Madalyn onions in salsas, on hamburgers, in guacamole, with sauteed greens, in ground beef. My favorite is to add diced Madalyn onions to lentil and avocado burritos.
Growing qualities
Madalyn is considered a short-day onion, meaning that the plant will start forming a bulb at a shorter day length compared to other onion varieties. That’s good for Southern California because our day length never gets as long as in higher latitudes.
But there are many short-day onion varieties to choose from, and I’ve had success with many. What I have found particularly pleasing about growing Madalyn is that it bolts less often, year after year, compared to the other varieties in the garden.
I appreciate that Madalyn doesn’t often bolt (make a flower) because that degrades the bulb.
(See my post, “Why do onions flower?”)
Typical sowing and harvest dates
For the 2025-2026 season, I sowed on October 29 and I started harvesting bulbs last week, the first week of April. This is typical. I probably won’t harvest all of the Madalyns until sometime in May. May is when I usually complete a Madalyn harvest, as was the case with this crop, for example:
Storage
I grow one or two rows, around 120 Madalyn onion plants, for my family of five each year. After drying, I store them in the fridge. They keep well in there through October, which so happens to be the time that a new crop of Madalyn onions needs to be sown.
Where to buy Madalyn onion seed
I buy my Madalyn onion seeds from Johnny’s.
I grow smaller numbers of other onion varieties because I like to try new yellow types, and I like to have some whites and reds to eat. I’ve yet to find varieties of white or red onions that consistently bulb well and do not bolt often like Madalyn, however.
My most reliable onion overall has been Madalyn for many years now. Maybe she will grow happily in your Southern California vegetable garden too.
You might also like to read my post, “Growing onions in Southern California.”
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