Hello everyone!

[BeanGrower02]

Use the link I posted and get on the bean thread. Somebody probably can help you there.

Already done lol. Thanks for sending that link. I'm looking forward to exchanging new varieties with people!

 

[flowerbug]

I am from Central Oklahoma and I live growing beans. The past few years I have been especially looking for the most blue beans. I already have Bamberger Blaue, Blue Jay, and Nonna Agnes.

welcome to TEG from mid-Michigan. plenty of bean growers here on TEG.

Sacre Bleu is the most blue bean i've grown, but alas it has not remained true for me so i've not grown any more of what i have. i think i have one bean left from my original sample and not sure i'll plant it. Russ @Bluejay77 has had good luck with his grow outs that i recall.

Nona Agnes and Blaugraue both can have some nice blue color in them, but like Sacre Bleu they are pole beans so not what i would want to grow here regularly.

 

[BeanGrower02]

welcome to TEG from mid-Michigan. plenty of bean growers here on TEG.

Sacre Bleu is the most blue bean i've grown, but alas it has not remained true for me so i've not grown any more of what i have. i think i have one bean left from my original sample and not sure i'll plant it. Russ @Bluejay77 has had good luck with his grow outs that i recall.

Nona Agnes and Blaugraue both can have some nice blue color in them, but like Sacre Bleu they are pole beans so not what i would want to grow here regularly.

So when you grew Sacrw Bleu did they all end up turning brown? Or were you still getting some blue seeds mixed in with brown?

 

[flowerbug]

So when you grew Sacrw Bleu did they all end up turning brown? Or were you still getting some blue seeds mixed in with brown?

no, i was getting silvery stripes similar to the same pattern a pinto makes. i posted a picture in the big bean thread (search my handle and that name and it should bring up a post with that pic link in there). i also got some solid black beans.

 

[meadow]

In my earlier searching today, there were many references to the blue color being dependent on the temperature during the ripening process (at least for some blue varieties). I think it needs cooler temps for the blue color, and of course they darken with age.

 

[BeanGrower02]

In my earlier searching today, there were many references to the blue color being dependent on the temperature during the ripening process (at least for some blue varieties). I think it needs cooler temps for the blue color, and of course they darken with age.

I was wondering if that was the case because I believe Nonna Agnes also becomes bluer the cooler it is.

 

[BeanGrower02]

no, i was getting silvery stripes similar to the same pattern a pinto makes. i posted a picture in the big bean thread (search my handle and that name and it should bring up a post with that pic link in there). i also got some solid black beans.

I just saw your picture and they look kind of similar to the Bamberger Blaue beans that I have grown. They are somewhat blue with grayish white streaks. If I'm not mistaken Sacre Bleu came from a German variety called Dwarf Blue, so I'm wondering if Dwarf Blue and Bamberger Blaue are related since they're both German varieties.

 

[flowerbug]

I just saw your picture and they look kind of similar to the Bamberger Blaue beans that I have grown. They are somewhat blue with grayish white streaks. If I'm not mistaken Sacre Bleu came from a German variety called Dwarf Blue, so I'm wondering if Dwarf Blue and Bamberger Blaue are related since they're both German varieties.

here is text from EFN:

'Sacre Bleu' Bean

Phaseolus vulgaris Origin: Apalachin, New York Improvement Status: Cultivar Seeds per packet: ~10 Germination tested 12/2021: 99% Life cycle: Annual EFN INTRODUCTION. We're thrilled to again be able to offer this wonderful "new heirloom" bean. Our great friend Lisa Bloodnick (whom we first met...

store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org

"
EFN INTRODUCTION. We're thrilled to again be able to offer this wonderful "new heirloom" bean. Our great friend Lisa Bloodnick (whom we first met after she signed up as an EFN volunteer grower our first year) bred this amazing bean.
Lisa and her husband Brendan are market farmers in Apalachin, New York, outside Binghamton. At Bloodnick Family Farm they use all organic methods and even use a draft horse instead of a tractor (most of the time). Lisa is a leader in the seed-saving world making a name for herself as a steward of beans in particular. Lisa simply loves beans. Every year she grows over 100 different bean varieties (often many more than that), and some of them are exceedingly rare. Every now and then a new bean will show up in her field — a rogue — the result of a chance cross-pollination or a random mutation. If the rogue is interesting, Lisa will plant it the next year to see if its offspring are also interesting, and if the plants are robust and productive. Usually such efforts lead to nothing special, but every so often a rogue will lead to something new and unique — and such is most definitely the story of the 'Sacre Bleu'!
The original beans Lisa started with looked much like the beans we're offering for sale today — the farthest back she can trace them is to a friend's trade with a German gardener who had them labeled "dwarf blue" — but years of work were required to "stabilize" the line as a uniform new variety, continually "rogue-ing out" beans that didn't look just like the originals or perform the same way (in this case, as an unbridled climber). The result is a pole bean remarkable not only for its beauty and uniformity, but for its productivity and vigor. It's not good as a green bean, but makes a gorgeous dry bean — a dark blue kidney-type.
The first summer Lisa found no "off types" to rogue out was 2018. It was also a really rough year for farming in the Southern Tier of New York due to the weather -- a really wet year. The nearby Apalachin Creek overtopped its banks, flooding the Bloodnick farm, and even after the water subsided, it continued raining. If you've ever grown dry beans before, you know how important it is for the beans to have a chance to dry on the vine. In wet seasons they're highly susceptible to fungus. Lisa reports that of all the beans she grew in 2018 (over 150 varieties) her 'Sacre Bleu' were the "cleanest" at the end of the season. All that moisture stayed outside the pods and the beans to dry down perfectly.
This year's small crop — get 'em while they last! — was produced in Philadelphia by our friend Olivia Gamber.
NOTE: These beans are most blue when fresh, and the color darkens as they dry down and then age, so don't be alarmed when the beans that arrive in the mail are darker than they appear in the photo!"

i'm not sure of the source of the seeds i got as they came from a seed swap several years ago.

 

[meadow]

I was wondering if that was the case because I believe Nonna Agnes also becomes bluer the cooler it is.

Nonna Agnes is such a beautiful bean! So is Sacre Bleu; very striking.