2023 Little Easy Bean Network - Beans Beyond The Colors Of A Rainbow

[Blue-Jay]

What is the story on Habichuelas Rosadas, @Bluejay77? It says that all beans are out to grower, but it looks like the same was for last year too?

I dont have my records of who got this bean right now as I'm 200 miles from home until tomorrow. Visiting my brother before I get away to Florida for two months. What I can tell you is I sent this bean out to a grower and fresh seed was never returned. Often times there is no communication from people who don't return seed.

 

[BeanieQueen]

Guy was my source for Grand-mère. If anyone wants seeds just say the word - I have a pint jar of the tiny things, must be well over 1000 in there. In my notes from 2021, I wrote that 4 plants yielded 1400 seeds. Did I really count all of those? I have no recollection, must've blacked out.

On Guy Dirix's page they put up a photo of 'Grape', perhaps to illustrate how similar the seeds are in appearance. But I can confirm that the pods of Grand-mère are nothing like Grape. @BeanieQueen From my observation I wouldn't describe them as very curved, though some were slightly curved and an equal number were straight. The dry pods are brittle, lacking a tough membrane. I believe they may also be stringless but I cannot remember for certain. @Decoy1 grew them more recently and perhaps can comment on this.

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On Guy Dirix's page they put up a photo of 'Grape', perhaps to illustrate how similar the seeds are in appearance. But I can confirm that the pods of Grand-mère are nothing like Grape. @BeanieQueen From my observation I wouldn't describe them as very curved, though some were slightly curved and an equal number were straight. The dry pods are brittle, lacking a tough membrane. I believe they may also be stringless but I cannot remember for certain. @Decoy1 grew them more recently and perhaps can comment on this.

The ones on the photos are pretty, @Triffid , but for looong not curved enough! The ones I grew had mostly the shape of a C and in size they often fitted in an average cup. (I really must find a solution for posting some photos! It's a shame..) An the colour of the seeds is a blurred wine-red.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'll get in another segment of the beans from the Will Bonsall beans I got from Russ. These are all from the WB #27 packet.

Raspberry Ripple 1 was grown in 2017. It is a first time segregation.

Ripple 2A 1 is a new segregation grown in 2022

Rising Fawn Black was last grown in 2020 and repeated once.

 

[Blue-Jay]

I'll get in another segment of the beans from the Will Bonsall beans I got from Russ. These are all from the WB #27 packet.

Raspberry Ripple 1 was grown in 2017. It is a first time segregation.

That RIPPLE 2A1 S-22 is really pretty shade of purple with that thick black eye ring. Really like that one. That is for a definite grow out. How much of that seed do you have?

 

[Ridgerunner]

The next several beans are TT's. I named one of the segregations from WB #27 in 2016 Raspberry Ripple. When planted in 2017 Raspberry Ripple produced more segregations, I called a very productive one Tallulah's Treasure. When I planted it again in 2019 it again produced more segregations so I started using TT as part of the working name to save room on the marker. This one has produced a lot of segregations.

TTA 1 was grown in 2020 and has repeated once.

TTA 2A1 is a new segregation grown in 2021

TTA 2A3 L is a new segregation grown in 2021

TTA 2A3 R is a new segregation grown in 2021.

 

[Ridgerunner]

That RIPPLE 2A1 S-22 is really pretty shade of purple with that thick black eye ring. Really like that one. That is for a definite grow out. How much of that seed do you have?

I have 60 in the packet for you and about that many in reserve. Do you want more?

 

[Blue-Jay]

I have 60 in the packet for you and about that many in reserve. Do you want more?

No, I don't need anymore than 60. That will be great. Should be able to do plenty with 60.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Bluejay77 I think Nona Agnes on your website might be misspelled. "Nonna" in Italian means grandmother, whereas "Nona" apparently translates as 'not to'... I think the bean is meant to be "Nonna Agnes."

The reason this came to my attention is that Uprising Seed has this as a new bean for 2023. They've decided to change the name, and have this as the description:



Is it just me, or does it seem out of place to arbitrarily be renaming bean varieties? I mean, are we to take every 'Grandma's this or that' and slap a new name on it? I'd rather go back to the name it was when Grandma planted it. (but that probably IS just me! ) I truly appreciate how patient the LEBN family is with my obsession for bean history/genealogy.

So I did a search for Nona Agnes on the internet and you are correct. Nonna is spelled with a double N. I never noticed the extra N. In the last 5 years or so I have trouble spelling correctly a lot of words with double letters. Often when I'm writting something I have to google words to see how they are spelled.

Now with the idea of renaming beans. I'm not a big fan of renaming beans. Although I know it's done sometimes for various reasons. I wouldn't do it especially for a very well esablished bean that a lot of people already know it by a certain name. However I'm probably going to rename some beans that were collected by Joseph Simcox and he collected them in areas where the people couldn't tell him the name. Possibly because of a language barrier or he just didn't take the time to find a beans correct name. I got several beans with the name of Ijevan followed by numbers 1-5. These seem like rather useless names and I will probably give them another useless name that has nothing to do with their origin or history. However the names I give them will probably be easier to remember and give them some linguistic seperation rather than a series of numbers after the same name. Generally you won't find me very often renaming a bean. Then again I'm sure there will be varied opinions on this subject.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I got several beans with the name of Ijevan followed by numbers 1-5. These seem like rather useless names and I will probably give them another useless name that has nothing to do with their origin or history. However the names I give them will probably be easier to remember and give them some linguistic seperation rather than a series of numbers after the same name. Generally you won't find me very often renaming a bean. Then again I'm sure there will be varied opinions on this subject.

Just common beans, or some runners as well? I ask because I have been trying to find Joe's Ijevan Runner #2 for some time now (it had sold out by the time I had found the Seed Zoo and bought #1).

Yeah, Joe sometimes has problems with coming up with names. Besides the obvious fact that it isn't mixed any more, it has always bothered me that Joe decided to call Fort Portal Mixed that after naming Fort Portal Jade. It makes it sound like the mixed is a multicolored version of the Jade, which it is not (Bantu would be closer to a multi colored version of Fort Portal Jade; I suspect that FPJ is the result of someone pulling green coated beans out of a Bantu population and inbreeding them until they would generally produce green and green alone (when FPJ first came out, there WERE the odd non-green bean in some of the packages. I got one purple one and one blue one.))

Sometimes I'm not even sure he bothered to check if there WAS more than one bean in a mix. On the flip side from the Fort Portal mixed, the Speckled Gray was offered as one variable type of bean, when I was in fact about a half dozen distinct ones, each of which stayed true to itself every time (i.e. plant a speckled seed, you got speckled seeds, plant a solid purple one, you got a solid purple back. Sizes and shapes stayed true as well.)

While I agree that keeping a name for historical reasons is important, when and if the name becomes confusing or misleading, I think it does more harm than good to keep it the way it is.)

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'll try to post some more of the WB beans. These are still from the WB #27's.

TTA 2A4 A is a new segregation grown in 2021. This bean has a brown color that I associate with water damage but I tried to germinate the two that appeared the worst. Both sprouted. I consider it the natural color.

TTA 2B1 A is a new segregation grown in 2022.

TTA 2B2 is a new segregation grown in 2021.

TTA 2B3 is a new segregation grown in 2021.

TTA 2B4 is a new segregation grown in 2021.

TTA 2B5 is a new segregation grown in 2021.

TTA 2B6 is a new segregation grown in 2021.

When planted in 2021, six total plants of TTA 2B produced 6 separate segregations. That makes me think a couple of generations back TTA 2 cross-pollinated with something. The 2 and 4 segregations above makes me think it may have been a Miss T version. Miss T versions come later.