heirloomgal
Garden Addicted
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I'm delighted to see the Noir de Belgique on your list @Triffid; I grew that bean two years ago, it produced wonderfully, but the fellow I got the seed from had very little info about it other than it was in Vilmorin at some point. I always wondered if it was a legit variety, and was left curious since I turned up very little on the internet about it.A longer than average bean filled post for the record; just realised I haven't listed which varieties I'm growing this season. Network beans marked with an asterisk. Plus some pictures of crosses and offtypes
French, climbing and dwarf
Atlas (wax), Aurie de Bacau crosses F2, Babcia Aniela (D), Barksdale (wax)*, Brown Tobacco Worm, Crochets de Savoie (blue-seeded), Eddie Sim's Travelling, Fortner Family Greasy, Gialét, Hodson Silver Wax (D), Laughing Arlie Greasy, Lil Daisy*, Mazlenk Visok Dolgi Stroki (wax), Mountaineer White Half-Runner, Myrtle Allen, Non-Tough Half Runner, Old Joe Clark, Ortner Speck, Petit Carré de Caen, Paarse Johan, Petit Gris, Petit Gris Variant, Phil's, Pink Tip Greasy*, Quatre-au-Mètre, Robert Hazelwood, Rockwell (D), Sallee-Dunahoo Family White Greasy*, Striped Bunch, Užice Speckled Wax, White Seeded Cherokee Trail of Tears, White Simpson Greasy, Wide Pod White Greasy*, Cherokee Greasy, Cherokee Long Greasy, Noir de Belgique (D), North Carolina Long Greasy Early, Frye's Golden Goose, Frye's GG Offtypes, Frye's GG Dwarf Offtype (D), Romanian x St. George F2, Saint Esprit d'Oeil Rouge (D), Veitch's Wonder/Nain de Veitch (D)
Runners
Aeron Purple Star, Blackpod (longer reddish variant from last year), Judión, Piękny Jaś Wrzawski, Salford Black
The Aurie de Bacau crosses were discovered in 2021. The F1 seeds were identical in appearance, as expected, but the resulting plants produced 3 distinctly different pods. So the cross must have involved pollen from several different varieties. The pod on the right is AdB; pod second from left had parchment; the other two had none-to-very little parchment. The seeds from the purple pods are the milky coffee colour that is so common in purple-podded varieties. The seeds from the greenish pods have the same khaki tones as their mother.
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The Petit Gris variant was from one surviving plant (also 2021 season) so currently unknown whether this was a cross or mutation, but shall soon find out. The growth habit, blossoms, and pods all matched the descriptions of Petit Gris, but the seeds were about 3x the size and blue with a beige mottled pattern instead of grey with a brown eye. Is the fact that the seeds are so much larger than the original a give-away that this is a cross?
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Some variability in Frye's Golden Goose. On the left are the original seeds from Gales Meadow Farm.
Seeds in the middle are fresh, from last year's crop, so the colour is brighter.
Cream seeds on the top-right are the 'FGG Dwarf Offtype' which appears to be stable after a couple of generations. This year I have enough seeds for a better assessment of growth, and hopefully taste for the first time. I do know that the pods are completely free from parchment, and 'creaseback' - the pods develop to be thick and filled out all around the circumference, with an indentation or crease along the suture strings (am I using the term correctly?).
On the bottom-right are some offtype seeds which I picked out of the original seed stock. What will come of them is anyone's guess. The 'FGG Dwarf Offtype' came from a seed very similar in appearance to the squarish brown one on the top-left of that offtype pile.
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The Romanian x St. George F2 is a vulgaris x coccineus cross discovered by a friend last season. Currently all the plants are growing well, mostly epigeal cotyledons but a couple had hypogeal cotyledons. Some odd leaves here and there; they seem a little confused by their own genetics at times. No pictures yet I'm afraid.