2021 Little Easy Bean Network - Bean Lovers Come Discover Something New !

[Blue-Jay]

@Bluejay77 any background information you might have on any of the below things would interest me greatly.

It has long interested me how R. Lobitz came up with the pattern of Spring Valley Purple and Cyrus Grays. He had neither Mrociumere or Dapple Grey in his collection. I have what I believe is Robert's entire list of his collection outside of his named beans. I also wonder how he came up with that whole line of beans that looked like or similar too Blooming Prairie with that off white circle around the eye before the purplish coloration of the bean begins. Sometime after I get through sorting beans I will have to put up this list of R. Lobitz's collection. He collected beans from the USDA too. I see on his foreign bean list that there was a number of beans from Africa. They came from the USDA and I don't think any of them are listed by name but USDA accession numbers. The African beans is probably where the Spring Valley Purple and Cyrus Grays pattern came from.

I purchased Dapple Grey in May of 2011 from a seller on Ebay that goes by the name of Azure Dandelion.
Cyrus Grays I got from a woman in Jefferson, Maine in 2018 who inherited a former SSE member Sam Birch's seed collection who had passed away probably sometime in 2014. Sam's seed was from 2013 growing season. I believe Sam acquired Cyrus Grays from Robert while he was still living.
Pale Grey Lavender I acquired in September 2018

I don't believe Robert ever grew any pole beans. He did have some semi runners. That was as far as he got into climbing beans. His collection highly revolved around bush beans.

 

[flowerbug]

@flowerbug
This year I got an Ocean View off type which has a similar color pattern to Dapple Grey but instead of grey it is navy blue.
I'll take a photo this weekend. On working days I go to work while it is still dark, and when I come back it is already dark

wow! i hope it stablizes!

 

[flowerbug]

It has long interested me how R. Lobitz came up with the pattern of Spring Valley Purple and Cyrus Grays. He had neither Mrociumere or Dapple Grey in his collection. I have what I believe is Robert's entire collection outside of his named beans. I also wonder how he came up with that whole line of beans that looked like or similar too Blooming Prairie with that off white circle around the eye before the purplish coloration of the bean begins. Sometime after I get through sorting beans I will have to put up this list of R. Lobitz's collection. He collected beans from the USDA too. I see on his foreign bean list that there was a number of beans from Africa. They came from the USDA and I don't think any of them are listed by name but USDA accession numbers. The African beans is probably where the Spring Valley Purple and Cyrus Grays pattern came from.

I purchased Dapple Grey in May of 2011 from a seller on Ebay that goes by the name of Azure Dandelion.
Cyrus Grays I got from a woman in Jefferson, Maine in 2018 who inherited a former SSE member Sam Birch's seed collection who had passed away probably sometime in 2014. Sam's seed was from 2013 growing season. I believe Sam acquired Cyrus Grays from Robert while he was still living.
Pale Grey Lavender I acquired in September 2018

I don't believe Robert ever grew any pole beans. He did have some semi runners. That was as far as he got into climbing beans. His collection highly revolved around bush beans.

interesting! thank you for the details!

i never sourced any of the solid patterned beans from anyone but now i have three different colors all via the outcross from Dapple Gray that i call Monster. Monster has not been stable - i originally called it Monster because it was such a large bush bean plant but now i call it Monster because of the instability too.

on another topic, and similar to your question about Blooming Prairie if you ever come across any bean in the Robert Lobitz collection that might be a parent to Purple Dove (and similar patterned and shaped beans) i'll be interested to know what it is and what you think.

Blooming Prairie is a popular enough bean now that several seed sources carry it. i'm sure it is a relative to Purple Dove, but i don't know which came first. maybe next spring i'll request it as one to grow out and compare to PD since i've grown the other three Purple beans from Robert's collection that you have available i think i could also recall enough of them to determine if it is similar to those or not or worth another side by side grow out.

 

[Zeedman]

All beans & other legumes have now been cleaning & culled. These are the two limas grown this year:


1880's Butterbean, a pole variety obtained from SSE's Heritage Farm in 2006. A productive small to medium sized lima. I've found this one to be best flavored if harvested when the seeds are full, but the pods have not yet yellowed. The dry pods are over-sized, flat, and often wavy. It was grown at home, so was only briefly impacted by the heavy rains, and recovered completely... 4 pounds 2 ounces dry, plus several quarts of frozen shellies. I know nothing of its history beyond SSE.


McClelland Family Heirloom, pole, from SSE in 2015. A first-time trial. It was grown in the rural garden, where it was severely stunted by flooding & waterlogged soil, reverting to bush habit until partial recovery late in the season. It produced only 2 pounds 13 ounces from 32' of row, and much of that only because of the late frost. All of the early seeds were small; the later seeds, after the plants had sent up runners, are the larger seeds in the photo. The dry pods retain their rounded shape, and shatter easily when fully dry... often as I pick them. Donated to SSE by George McClelland, who began growing this variety in 1989 when he received it from his mother, Shirley Lee (Eichorn) McClelland. I'll need to grow it again to evaluate its culinary qualities, hopefully under better conditions.

 

[heirloomgal]

That is an impressive yield for 6 bush bean plants.

They weren't bush beans @Zeedman , they were semi -runners. But their yields were nearly equivalent, weight wise, with some of the pole beans I grew. I think part of what helped them be so abundant was they were planted in brand new soil I had brought in this spring, and it was manured. I do think beans respond well to additional nitrogen. After reading some of the data forwarded to met this year from the gov, I will make a point to give the plants a single application of complete nutrition (not sure what kind yet) at the right moment in their growth period in the coming years.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Bluejay77's Big Bean Show
Day 12 - The Beans I Grew This Summer​

Edogava Zurunacki Namame- Bush Dry

I really have no history nor do I know the country of origin of this bean. It's quite productive on tall plants that grow up to 24 - 26 inches. Sent to me by Joseph Simcox in 2015. This years bean grew just a little smaller beans than the ones I grew 4 years ago.


Edogava Zurunacki Namame


Ernie's Big Eye - Bush Dry

This bean comes originally from the collection of the late Ernest B. Dana of Etna, New Hampshire. It is an original named bean of Ernie's. I still have not found the soil in this county to grow it in where the seed will look as I first saw it when I acquired it from John Withees Wanigan Associates in 1978. It can have lots of white on the bean with a much smaller red eye patch and lots of very fine spotting scattered across it's immense field of white. Second photo is how I would like my EBY to look. The difference in the appearance of the bean depending on where it's grown is due to soil sensitivity.


Ernie's Big Eye Ernie's Big Eye


Falcon - Bush Dry

This is the smallest bean I grow. I been told there are even smaller beans that this one, but I don't have one smaller than this. Obtained from former Seed Savers Exchange member. The late Mary Ann Fox of Shelbyville, Indiana in 2011. This is a bean that was once sold by Native Seed Search at one time located in New Mexico. This bean gave me two off types this year. I believe they were both semi runners and neither seed will be grown.


Falcon.......................................................................................................Falcon On A Dime



Falcon Off Type #1............................................................Falcon Off Type #2


Fruhe Goldbohne - Bush Dry

Early Gold Bean. This season is the first time I have grown this beautiful bean since acquiring it from a bean trading friend in Liebenfels, Austria in 2014. Nicely productive on compact 12 inch tall plants. With our extended summer this year the bean had blossomed a second time and was full of green pods that were developing more seed.


Fruhe Goldbohne

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Bluejay77's Big Bean Show
Day 11 - The Beans I Grew This Summer​

Falcon - Bush Dry'

This is the smallest bean I grow. I been told there are even smaller beans that this one, but I don't have one smaller than this. Obtained from former Seed Savers Exchange member. The late Mary Ann Fox of Shelbyville, Indiana in 2011. This is a bean was once sold by Native Seed Search at one time located in New Mexico. This bean gave me two off types this year. I believe they were both semi runners and neither seed will be grown.

View attachment 45384View attachment 45385
Falcon.......................................................................................................Falcon On A Dime


View attachment 45386View attachment 45387
Falcon Off Type #1............................................................Falcon Off Type #2

I once found a black bean in my searches that was smaller than Falcon (about half the size) but unfortunately it didn't come up when planted.

And if you can spare them, I'd love a few of both the off types (I'm already growing the regular Falcon from what you sent me before) These smaller beans tend to do better for me.

 

[HmooseK]

@Bluejay77

Draper's Glen off type #2 is one pretty bean!

 

[flowerbug]

@Bluejay77 Venda is a rather tiny bean.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Bluejay77 Venda is a rather tiny bean.

Yes Venda is very small. Falcon I think has it beat in the small department.