A Seed Saver's Garden

[heirloomgal]

And when I googled 'Rose Potpourri' sweet corn I discover this:

Another company changing the name to confuse us all.

Funny you should mention that, because the seed company that I got RP from had renamed several of the seeds they offered. And they freely talked about that, saying 'I really like so and so breeder so I re-named this for them', and there were quite a few renamed things on the website. Most of the re-naming was in honor of people they liked.

Oh well, if we think about it this has always been the case with any plant. Name any perennial and there is probably half a dozen names they go by, same for herbs. Plants occupy a wide geographical territory, especially useful cultivated ones, so it comes with the territory. It's like a story that changes depending on who's telling it.

 

[Jack Holloway]

Funny you should mention that, because the seed company that I got RP from had renamed several of the seeds they offered. And they freely talked about that, saying 'I really like so and so breeder so I re-named this for them', and there were quite a few renamed things on the website. Most of the re-naming was in honor of people they liked.

To me that seems disrespecting the breeder. If they liked the breeder so much, I'd think they'd respect them enough to keep the name the breeder came up with.

 

[heirloomgal]

The thing I found funny was one of the beans was 'Orca', and in that case I shouldn't say they renamed it, but they added someone's personal name in front, can't remember what it was, but I recall thinking that is a very well known bean. I'm not sure the name they added would stick, since nobody calls any Orca bean 'John's Orca' or whatever it was. At least, not that I know of. People just seem to called it Orca, or Yin Yang or Free Willy but without personal names attached. To each his own, but there is something subjective to that and while she may hold in high esteem a particular person and want to bring attention to them, someone else may not feel the same way.

I didn't look closely so I can't attest to what all was re-named but I remember there was a pea re-named for the woman who did the film Modified. The original pea wasn't especially popular (though I had heard of it), and so maybe she only does this with beans or things that have no known origin, like Orca. The way I phrased that above post was a bit blurry I guess, she hadn't renamed a breeders work for a breeder, but various things for people she liked.

 

[meadow]

The thing I found funny was one of the beans was 'Orca', and in that case I shouldn't say they renamed it, but they added someone's personal name in front, can't remember what it was, but I recall thinking that is a very well known bean. I'm not sure the name they added would stick, since nobody calls any Orca bean 'John's Orca' or whatever it was. At least, not that I know of. People just seem to called it Orca, or Yin Yang or Free Willy but without personal names attached. To each his own, but there is something subjective to that and while she may hold in high esteem a particular person and want to bring attention to them, someone else may not feel the same way.

I didn't look closely so I can't attest to what all was re-named but I remember there was a pea re-named for the woman who did the film Modified. The original pea wasn't especially popular (though I had heard of it), and so maybe she only does this with beans or things that have no known origin, like Orca. The way I phrased that above post was a bit blurry I guess, she hadn't renamed a breeders work for a breeder, but various things for people she liked.

Was it Wolverine's Orca by any chance?

This strain has been passed on to us through a series of seed stewards, and can be traced back to Secwepemc elder Wolverine William Ignace, who began growing it in the 1990s. In addition to being a dedicated seed saver, Wolverine was a lifelong crusader for indigenous land rights and sovereignty, both internationally and in his native British Columbia, Canada. Into his 80s, Wolverine tended 8 acres of land and through his project, Nourish the Nation, gave away almost the entirety of his harvest to elders in autonomous communities, families, and people defending their traditional territories against devastating extraction projects. Wolverine passed away in 2016. A portion of the proceeds of the sale of this bean will go to support ongoing Secwepemc sovereignty efforts via Tiny House Warriors.

 

[heirloomgal]

Was it Wolverine's Orca by any chance?

This strain has been passed on to us through a series of seed stewards, and can be traced back to Secwepemc elder Wolverine William Ignace, who began growing it in the 1990s. In addition to being a dedicated seed saver, Wolverine was a lifelong crusader for indigenous land rights and sovereignty, both internationally and in his native British Columbia, Canada. Into his 80s, Wolverine tended 8 acres of land and through his project, Nourish the Nation, gave away almost the entirety of his harvest to elders in autonomous communities, families, and people defending their traditional territories against devastating extraction projects. Wolverine passed away in 2016. A portion of the proceeds of the sale of this bean will go to support ongoing Secwepemc sovereignty efforts via Tiny House Warriors.

No, it was a lady's name. But I guess she isn't the only one afterall! Just goes to show I have no idea what I'm talking about!

 

[ducks4you]

It seems like our discussions could be included in Civil Law 101.

 

[flowerbug]

The thing I found funny was one of the beans was 'Orca', and in that case I shouldn't say they renamed it, but they added someone's ...

arg!

At least, not that I know of. People just seem to called it Orca, or Yin Yang or Free Willy but without personal names attached.

Orca and Yin Yang were the two names i've seen for that bean. they were even sold to me as separate varieties with different maturities but they grew the same (and not well here in the clay so i don't grow them any longer) either way.

 

[heirloomgal]

It seems like our discussions could be included in Civil Law 101.

 

[Zeedman]

The thing I found funny was one of the beans was 'Orca', and in that case I shouldn't say they renamed it, but they added someone's personal name in front, can't remember what it was, but I recall thinking that is a very well known bean. I'm not sure the name they added would stick, since nobody calls any Orca bean 'John's Orca' or whatever it was. At least, not that I know of. People just seem to called it Orca, or Yin Yang or Free Willy but without personal names attached. To each his own, but there is something subjective to that and while she may hold in high esteem a particular person and want to bring attention to them, someone else may not feel the same way.

I didn't look closely so I can't attest to what all was re-named but I remember there was a pea re-named for the woman who did the film Modified. The original pea wasn't especially popular (though I had heard of it), and so maybe she only does this with beans or things that have no known origin, like Orca. The way I phrased that above post was a bit blurry I guess, she hadn't renamed a breeders work for a breeder, but various things for people she liked.

The problem is that when something gets renamed, then there are 2 (or more) identical strains with different names. Eventually the history gets lost - which may include the relevant original provenance. (See @Bluejay77 's bean query today for how that could become an issue). Granted, the separate lines may diverge at some point... but for preservation purposes, having multiple apparently-identical strains floating around with no history eventually becomes problematic. So @Bluejay77 might end up saving 3-4 beans under different names instead of one. It's bad enough when beans cross national boundaries, being given a different name in each language. (such as Meraviglia di Venezia, and Marvel of Venice.)

Admittedly, many seed savers (including myself) are at some point guilty of naming something acquired with no name. Which doesn't mean that it didn't have one - given by someone elsewhere - which could crop up later (like in a goose, pun intended ). I had to name the cowpea sent to me by @Bluejay77 , because while I suspect that I know what it is, the history was lost, and I can't take a chance on being wrong. Two different varieties with the same name is a major problem, especially if what you receive ends up not being what you expected... and reading descriptions of varieties listed in SSE offered by multiple people, I frequently see evidence of this.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I FINALLY managed to finish sorting the multi-hundred pound (yes, I wrote that correctly) bin of assorted glass beads I had in the sun room. Besides discovering a TON of beads I didn't remember still having (including ones I though I'd thrown out twenty years ago), there were a LOT of seeds mixed in. As usual, nearly all were junk seeds that went starlight into the trash (along with the multiple inches of frass at the bottom of the container from uncountable generations of larder beetle larvae feasting on those seeds). But I did find a few nice surprises, like ten or so more of the mottled mothe beans I can no longer get from the Indian grocery store, and a plum pit that, given how small it is, has to be from either one of the plum trees from my college days or a mirabelle i.e. it is NOT a greengage or whatever those small black plums I got once were (Ironically, I also found the receipt from when I BOUGHT those small black plums, but the listed name was gibberish, and it went into the trash with all of the other defunct receipts.)