2026 Little Easy Bean Network – Plant A Garden, Water Your Soul, Join Our Family

[Blue-Jay]

Russ's 2025 Big Bean Show Day 2
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Alice Sunshine hadn't been grown since 2025. Grown in my backyard plot it did very well and produced some of the nicest seed of the bean I had grown. Approximately 20 plants produce 1 pound 1.55 ounces (497 g). This is one of Robert Lobitz's green snap beans.

Anakin Kuvali Giant produced a nice quality of seed growing about 5 feet tall (a little less than two meters). 8 plants produced 14.65 ounces (415 g). Large seeded bean brought back from Europe by Joseph Simcox


Alice Sunshine - Bush Snap....................................Anakin Kuvali Giant - Pole Dry

 

[Blue-Jay]

Russ's 2025 Big Bean Show Day 2
​

Appaloosa - Bush Dry. Having last grown this bean in 2021 I originally obtained the bean from Full Circle Seeds in BC Canada in 2012. Considering the growing season this year. the bean didn't do too badly. It produced 12.30 ounces of seed from about 13 plants (348 g).

Apple Creek - Bush Green Snap. Not a lot of seed from this bean as it was grown in place in my backyeard that doesn't get a lot of hours of direct sunlight. The bean orignally came from one of the seed packets of outcrossed seed from Will Bonsall in 2015. The seed I grew to get Apple Creek was a semi runner with a bluish seed mottled with tan. Since progressive grow outs in 2017, 2018 and 2025 I have not seen any off types in Apple Creek. The bean did produce nice quality seed this past season.


Apple Creek - Bush Green Snap..........................Appaloosa - Bush Dry

 

[Blue-Jay]

Zilie Hameleoni - bush bean from Krimulda, Vidzeme (Livonia) region, Latvia

That bean raises a big Wow in me! What a beauty. Very similar to Bomba but much richer stronger color. I have been told somewhere along the way that there are a lot of interesting beans in Latvia.

 

[heirloomgal]

I agree, that bean is staggeringly pretty. I need to start vacationing in Latvia if this is what their beans are like!

 

[flowerbug]

I agree, that bean is staggeringly pretty. I need to start vacationing in Latvia if this is what their beans are like!

@Artorius 's bean and breakfast wayside retreat for the bean afficionado...

 

[Artorius]

oh is that a nice range of colors and shape.

and a bush bean!

does it work for snaps/fresh beans?

@flowerbug
I don't know, I have not eaten the pods. I wanted to increase the seed count because I will probably send out quite a few. In Latvia, this bean is used as dried seeds, but the young pods may be edible.

 

[Artorius]

I took these Zilie Hameleoni photos on a cloudy day, which is why the seeds are bluer. In the sun the green color is more visible. Hence the name, Blue Chameleons.

 

[flowerbug]

I took these Zilie Hameleoni photos on a cloudy day, which is why the seeds are bluer. In the sun the green color is more visible. Hence the name, Blue Chameleons.

oh that sounds so Italian when i say it.

 

[flowerbug]

yesterday i took some beans with me to the library to sort as they have a nice big table and good lighting.

i got through a bunch of containers and got them somewhat sorted but there is still a ways to go.

i have plenty of working material now for the Purple Dove variations, in most cases i will have extra seeds i may get a chance to just plant a lot of these extras outside the fence and if the deer eat them that's just how it goes. yet, i will also have plenty of other beans to plant too so it won't all be those. also of course i'll still be planting of these inside the fenced gardens.

from just a few seeds, to several hundred, to a thousand, not counting all the Purple Dove seeds and other beans i'll be planting.

yes, pictures are being planned. i still need to fix something for the website to make it easier for me to post things but that isn't the hangup nearly as much as just finding the time.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Russ's 2025 Big Bean Show Day 3​

Algonquin - Pole Dry. This bean came out of a packet of seed in 2015 from Will Bonsall (The Scattered Seed Project). In the packet was also Hiawatha. They both were said to be off types of Norridgwock. I found both of them to be stable when grown and all I had to do was name both beans. This bean produced a scant amount of seed but quality seed.

Atwater- Bush green snap. It's one of the Robert Lobitz named beans. I had read somewhere that although a snap bean it gets tough on the vine rather quickly which I did noticed doing a small sampling of cooked pods. Perhaps should be considered better as a dry bean. I hadn't grown the seed since 2017. They were sound asleep in my freezer for 8 years at nearly 27 F below zero (-33C). All the seeds grew like they were just waiting for the morning sun to shine on their leaves.


Algonquin - Pole Dry..................................................Atwater - Bush Dry Snap