2022 Little Easy Bean Network - We Are Beans Without Borders

[Jack Holloway]

i'd consider the single left bean an off type (just likely a mistake because nobody sorted their growout before packaging).

the upper beans mostly look ok, but i'd need to see the eye of the dark ones on the right, if there is some white around the eye and it is otherwise purple it is a reverse of PD.

the lower right ones that are tan colored don't match anything i've seen here in four or five generations.

the lower left, i can't tell from the picture but if they are tan instead of white i'd say they're also an off type and not comparable to what i've been growing.

thanks for checking!

i'll be interested to hear back from @Bluejay77 at some point if he can remember his original sample from RL back in 2004.

The lower left ones are not what I would call white. Very pale tan maybe. I think the dark ones did have a white eye. I'll look later today at them again. I've dumped them all back in the pack. I'll sort them out and keep them separate next time. Bad me!

Thanks for the input. Maybe I should pull the tan ones out completely. Something growers don't always do is rouge out the off types. Something I hate when buying tubers of things like canna lillies. Some of the colorful ones will revert, and you don't know it till it comes up. I've taken to paying the price for growing ones, so I know I'm getting what I want.

 

[flowerbug]

it's interesting. i wouldn't discard anything yet.

 

[heirloomgal]

Yes, I am interested in Kodiak Pinto bean. Unfortunately, Annapolis Seeds no longer ships outside of Canada.

I pm'ed you.

 

[heirloomgal]

I seem to remember that Mandy's Greenhouse was closing?

She is basically slowing down, but not closing things up totally I don't think. Not yet, anyway.

 

[heirloomgal]

If I remember right she tried to hand the business off, some varieties got lost, and now she's back at it but at a smaller scale?

She did sell her seed stocks (for selling through her website) a few years ago to another seed vendor. But I think because it's a passion, and she's so good at it, it's hard to do a full stop.

 

[heirloomgal]

If I lived in Canada, I'd buy them for you and mail them to you. Alas, I live in the USA, and they don't ship here last I read.

I got him covered Jack

 

[heirloomgal]

I've been sorely tempted... I do love purple! I'm trying really hard to pare down my collection to just a few to be grown out on rotation though. It ain't easy.


Yes, I'd noticed that one too.

Do you love purple podded beans are purple dry beans? or both? I grow Blooming Prairie, which I believe is in the Purple Dove 'family' of Lobitz beans and it is very pretty. In my soil the purple smoke over the bean is on the darker side. The only detractor of beauty on there is that the eye is orange - ick! But despite the eye, it's a pretty bean. I sent some to a friend and she is selecting for darker purple smoke and she says that it's definitely trending that way now. It's a great purple snap bean too!

But if you mean dry as well, @Bluejay77 's Fagiola Assiagi Viola (or something like that, lol) is stunning purple. Really stunning. Koronis Purple is also a stunner, along with Kabarika. I got some Zwolse Paarse this spring and it was SUPER gorgeous. A dark purple but a 'wowzer'. I think even the name Zwolse Paarse means 'Sultry Purple'...am I right @BeanieQueen ?

 

[meadow]

Do you love purple podded beans are purple dry beans? or both? I grow Blooming Prairie, which I believe is in the Purple Dove 'family' of Lobitz beans and it is very pretty. In my soil the purple smoke over the bean is on the darker side. The only detractor of beauty on there is that the eye is orange - ick! But despite the eye, it's a pretty bean. I sent some to a friend and she is selecting for darker purple smoke and she says that it's definitely trending that way now. It's a great purple snap bean too!

But if you mean dry as well, @Bluejay77 's Fagiola Assiagi Viola (or something like that, lol) is stunning purple. Really stunning. Koronis Purple is also a stunner, along with Kabarika. I got some Zwolse Paarse this spring and it was SUPER gorgeous. A dark purple but a 'wowzer'. I think even the name Zwolse Paarse means 'Sultry Purple'...am I right @BeanieQueen ?

Blooming Prairie sounds gorgeous! It is the dry seed that appeals most, but there's something to be said for seeing glimpses of purple amongst the foliage too. Which I hadn't thought of until @flowerbug's comments about Purple Dove.

...trying to resist the urge to look at those purple lovelies! 🙈🙉 🤣

I'm working out my garden plan for next season and also trying to thin down the number of bean varieties that I have. Some varieties have several strains which need to be assessed too. I'll only be keeping those [eta: bush beans*] that are early, easy/healthy (even in cool, wet conditions), productive and, most important of all, delicious when cooked in plain water. Only problem is that I get so obsessed with one bean or another; I'm trying really hard not to add more to my dragon's hoard. sigh.

*pole beans are another story. DH will be breaking new ground up in the orchard for some pole bean trials and seed-saving.

 

[flowerbug]

...
*pole beans are another story. DH will be breaking new ground up in the orchard for some pole bean trials and seed-saving.

wow! that sounds like fun. it is much easier to take care of spaces that don't have a lot of other things around them. do you have fencing to protect the orchard trees?

 

[meadow]

wow! that sounds like fun. it is much easier to take care of spaces that don't have a lot of other things around them. do you have fencing to protect the orchard trees?

Yes, it has a wooden fence with 2x3" non-climb horse mesh. There is a water spigot there too.

He is the proud owner of a Meadow Creature broadfork and keeps looking for more areas to dig up! 😆 Best purchase ever!