Monachelle di Norcia - Pole Dry. From a grower in Valpiano, Italy. Not too bad in the productivity department but it didn't set any records. Enought beans to fill 4 - 3 x 4 ziploc baggies. The seed coat pattern reminds me of Hobb's Goose.
Mr. Tung - Pole Green Snap. The snap bean Mr. Tung brought from China in 1906 and grew in the gardens of a well to do family on Victoria Island for 25 years. They hired him to take care of the family's gardens and after his 25 years he retired to his homeland of China. The family conitnued to maintain the bean and obviously must have shared it with others as the bean is still around in North America. I acquired the bean from a grower in Lebanon, Tennessee in 2018. The bean is as productive as Delicous Giant and has produced a nice quality of seed everytime I have grown it. It is also an enjoyable green snap bean to eat.
Monachelle di Norcia - Pole Dry..............................Mr. Tung - Pole Green Snap
Mrs. Martin's Heir - Bush Lima. I recieved this bean from my Lima breeding contact in Iowa in 2019. Previously I had never noticed any of his beans being anything but pole types. Perhaps he had it on his seed packet when he sent me this bean marked as a bush but I must have been oblivious to that fact. So I planted it among Phaseolus Vulgaris pole beans this past summer of 2025 and was of course surprised to see it grow as a bush bean. I had emailed him recently to see if he could tell me anything of it's history. He told me that when Former SSE member Tom Knoche passed away in 2018 in Ohio. HIm and Glen Drowns of Sandhill Preservation Center found the bean at the bottom of Tom's freezer when they paid his home a visit. So when I grew this bean this past summer I thought the seed was rather pretty since most bush limas I've seen are the boring whitish slightly tinged green seeds. Mrs Martin's heir did produce one off type a pure white seed that I decided to call Mrs. White. I will always think of this bean as a connection to Tom Knoche who I had known and met at early Seed Savers Exchange campouts in the early 1980's.
Mrs. Martin's Heir - Bush Lima............................Mrs. White - Bush Lima
Wow ! It sure looks like Turkey could this bean. The colors on the seed coat are formed in the same pattern and even the slight orange eye ring looks about the same and a little info about the bean too. I have never left the seed of Turkey out long enough at room temperature to see if it does what the description of Sar Taneli Sera says happens to the seed coat colors. That color darkening could take maybe even take up to a year or more. That looks like Guy Dirix's website.
I discovered something that made be a bid sad yesterday afternoon. I had stated that the Milky Way off type seed look like such good quality that it would probably be worth growing it out. Well I couldn't find the seed yesterday. I looked at my freezer list. When into the box where I stored the Milky Way beans in hopes that I stored the off type there too. It was not there. I can only figure that when I first saw the seed I dumped it all in my bean cannister that I use to make my bean stew. That container is now half empty since January. So I'm very sure I ate all the seed of that off type.
I do have seed from several network growers back to '21 '22 '23 and 2024. I may have used the 2024 seed to grow the 2025 crop of Milky Way. I could try two of the other years along with 2024 to see if Milky Way will produce that two toned off type again.
Munacheda Nera - Pole Dry. I acquired this bean from a grower in Valpiano, Italy. Productivity wasn't terrible but it wasn't great either. Maybe it was the season. I must say though I took this bean to two seed swaps and it was getting some notice.
Munachedda Pale. - Pole Dry. Another bean acquired from a grower in Valpiano, Italy. This one produced just enough seed to fill a 3 x 4 ziploc baggie. Pretty poor perfomance for even 6 plants. Maybe it was the season.
Munachedda Nera - Pole Dry.......................Munachedda Pale - Pole Dry
Milky Way - Pole Dry. From my Austrian bean friend in 2018. This year was my first grow out of the bean and it was very productive. It produced one off type with such nice quality seed that I think it will probably be worth growing out that off type.
Interesting! When I grew these as a network bean in either 2019 or 2020, I got almost exactly the same off type in the mix - it's a similar pattern to Milky Way, just solid instead of swirly. I've not grown them again but I'm tempted to now to see what comes up. Picture attached.
I discovered something that made be a bid sad yesterday afternoon. I had stated that the Milky Way off type seed look like such good quality that it would probably be worth growing it out. Well I couldn't find the seed yesterday. I looked at my freezer list. When into the box where I stored the Milky Way beans in hopes that I stored the off type there too. It was not there. I can only figure that when I first saw the seed I dumped it all in my bean cannister that I use to make my bean stew. That container is now half empty since January. So I'm very sure I ate all the seed of that off type.
I do have seed from several network growers back to '21 '22 '23 and 2024. I may have used the 2024 seed to grow the 2025 crop of Milky Way. I could try two of the other years along with 2024 to see if Milky Way will produce that two toned off type again.
Munachedda Rosa - Pole Dry - Another bean grown in 2025 from Valpiano, Italy. Actually I grew Munachedda Rossa which mean red with doulble S. I got this light red bean out the grow out so I call this one Rosa or Rose with the single S. I wound up with more Rosa than Rossa. I did save the seed.
Muriel - Pole Dry - This red bean is very glossy. It comes out of one of the packets of outcrossed beans that had a mottled pattern like Tendergreen which is a very common pattern, sent to me by Will Bonsall, Industry, Maine in 2015. Muriel has been growing quite nicely without any off types for severeal years. I saved this bean because I was quite taken by it's very high gloss. The camera in my phone didn't do this bean justice at all. I need to get a really good grow out of the bean to find out how productive it is actually.
Munachedda Rosa - Pole Dry...............................Muriel - Pole Dry
