[rxkeith]

hi mary,

nice to hear the beans are up and growing for you. its been about 7 or 8 years since i offered seeds on garden web. i've had seeds that were at least 10 years old germinate. percentage goes way down though. i usually give old seeds a good soak before planting. last year i said i would have plenty of seeds. well, i did until mice made off with the seeds that were in an upstairs room drying. i ended up with about 2 dozen seeds. war was declared on mice. this year i planted seeds that were 3 years old, and got good germination.
the weather here has been on the cool side most of june. the bush beans i planted failed miserably. some seeds were older, but i still expected to see more than a handful of plants come up from 6 different varieties. i replanted today. the weather has finally warmed up. i seem to have better luck with older pole beans vs bush beans germinating. i planted some grandmas' black, and grandmas' brown seeds from darrel jones that were about 6 years old and had very good germination this year.
good luck with them, and let us know how you like them.

keith