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Post by triffid on Dec 16, 2021 12:13:41 GMT -6
I recently received a few beans in a swap, for which I'm struggling to find any information on origin or garden merit. I'm sure they're wonderful beans, but my curiosity gets the better of me.
Eddie Sim's Traveling Myrtle Allen White Simpson Greasy
My donor obtained them from the late Remy Orlowski. I have a mild suspicion that they're Appalachian heirlooms (well I'm pretty sure about the Simpson Greasy), based on their names and the fact a few beans Remy had for sale were sourced at Bill Best's seed swaps.
Has anyone here grown these or know of them?
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Post by macmex on Dec 16, 2021 13:09:57 GMT -6
Yes, I suspect they could all Appalachian. I know she attended the seed sharing events with Sustainable Mountain Agriculture.
Here's a screenshot from Remy's website:
Eddie Sim's Traveling definitely looks Appalachian to me!
Myrtle Allen is more problematic. Remy didn't even know where it came from.
It's wonderful that you're growing these out. They may be obscure now, but at one point they were almost certainly someone's favorite.
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Post by triffid on Dec 18, 2021 9:24:58 GMT -6
Indeed, I'm sure they were at least pretty special to a Ms. Myrtle Allen and Mr. Eddie Sim. I do hope they grow well here and become the favourite bean of many new families.
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Post by triffid on Jul 20, 2022 10:40:37 GMT -6
I'm growing a couple more beans with murky provenance, Phil's and Frye's Golden Goose, the latter I suspect may have Appalachian origins - but that is just speculation!
Phil's was kindly given to me this past winter by a dedicated seedsaver and dear gardening friend. It has white seeds and slim cylindrical pods, described as a Blue Lake/Kentucky Blue type, but superior. Currently in bloom but no pods yet.
Frye's Golden Goose is a family heirloom that was very generously shared by Anne Berblinger of Gales Meadow Farm, Oregon, at the end of 2019. It was the earliest bean to flower this year, even beating some dwarf beans that were sown around the same time. It develops those fat, knobbly pods with strings that are tender no matter the maturity. They're not greasy, but 'almost greasy' (?) if that makes sense - they get a little shinier as they fill out. The seeds are golden yellow and cut-short, almost square. It has some wonderful diversity in the phenotype which has already led me to a dwarf selection with oval, cream seeds that also produces tender beans. Most importantly, the full pods are truly delicious with excellent flavour and texture. They split open when cooked, releasing the beans within. I've heard these traits are rather popular in Appalachia, but this bean is so much earlier than anything else I've grown from that region. So, I could be barking up the wrong tree or (speculation) it travelled with the Fryes as they migrated west and over the generations it's adapted extremely well to the climate of the PNW.
I have a little more background info on both varieties and some pictures, but I don't see any options for attachments or formatting posts.
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Post by macmex on Jul 20, 2022 11:50:51 GMT -6
This is wonderful! It's so good to see folk trying these old seeds and publishing their observations. We need more folk to save seed long term too.
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Post by triffid on Jul 20, 2022 12:35:49 GMT -6
Can anyone tell me how to add images? I only have 'Reply' as an option.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jul 20, 2022 12:40:16 GMT -6
When you want to reply, don’t use the “quick reply” on the bottom left; use the “reply” on the top right. (I’m hoping it shows up the same way on your screen.). That should bring up something right away at the top right of the screen to add image to post or to add attachment. You also get all sorts of font and formatting options. Then when you’re done, you hit “create post” at the bottom right.
Edited to add: I just hit edit to check, and if you edit a post you’ve already written, it brings up the much more extensive reply options, so you can easily add in an image by editing if you want. Then you hit “save changes” at the bottom right.
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Post by macmex on Jul 20, 2022 12:48:23 GMT -6
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Post by triffid on Jul 20, 2022 13:32:18 GMT -6
Oh! Thank you both. I've never clicked 'Reply' and assumed it was the same as the quick reply function, whoops.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jul 20, 2022 13:39:47 GMT -6
You’re welcome.
My problem is that I often begin a quick reply, then end up hitting the “reply” button instead of “post quick reply,” and then my message doesn’t actually post unless I take the further step of hitting “create post.” I’ve learned about these functions by trial and a lot of error.
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Post by triffid on Jul 20, 2022 13:52:35 GMT -6
Frye's Golden Goose and offtypes. 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.
The oval cream seeds on the top-right are from the 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, longer than the regular pods and not knobbly either. They develop to be thick and filled out all around the circumference, with an indentation or crease along the suture strings. On the bottom-right are some offtype seeds which I picked out of the original seed stock. They flowered early and standing out so far is a plant with long, wide pods and a short one with pods that have red stripes. The cream-seeded dwarf came from a brown seed very similar in appearance to the squarish one on the top-left of that offtype pile.
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Post by triffid on Jul 20, 2022 14:09:33 GMT -6
About Phil's - it was saved from the garden of a gentleman named Phil by his neighbour after he passed away. My donor requested them from the seed bank of a Yahoo gardening group called Tomato Mania around 20 years ago, and the description that accompanied them was limited. They are from 'the US'; that is the beginning and end of the record regarding provenance. At one point my donor was the last remaining person in the group with viable seeds, and their stock was used to replenish the seed bank. The group has long since dissolved, a no other records of this variety appear to exist. They're said to resemble Blue Lake/Kentucky Blue, but my donor states that they grow better than the aforementioned varieties.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Jul 22, 2022 7:25:11 GMT -6
A note for posterity:
Just before the heavy rain received on July 21, 2022, after over a month of drought and high temperatures exceeding 100 degrees, I planted several Cherokee Striped Cornhill Pole Beans. Also, in a spot 12' feet to the East, in a separate abandoned row, I planted several Cherokee Trail of Tears, black pole beans. These were given to me by my good friend, George McLaughlin.
These beans were planted in a row on the far West side of my garden, where grasshoppers had earlier stripped every plant. After an intense bushfire, the grasshoppers moved on to the far East side of my garden, where they proceeded to strip my apple trees of all foliage. Hopefully, they will not return to find the pole beans that I planted in the spot they recently abandoned due to lack of forage.
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Post by triffid on Jul 28, 2022 19:21:24 GMT -6
How are those beans doing, heavyhitterokra ? Poking their heads above ground yet? Nevermind, just saw your post from the 27th! Glad they're doing well. Had to take a snap of the 'Blackpod' runner (P. coccineus) flowers this evening, as they were glowing in the dusk light. This picture doesn't do the intensity of colour justice, nor does it exhibit the display of inflorescences shooting off the vines in a show of botanical pyrotechnics. I've noticed that the few existing purple-podded runner bean varieties have deeper crimson blooms in comparison to the more usual scarlet runners with green pods. There is anthocyanin in the leaf veins, sepals and perhaps in the petals, too. You can see on this particular inflorescence that many flowers dropped in the recent heatwave. These were sown mid-June and look to be about 10ft tall right now, way beyond the 8ft canes, due for the tips to be pinched out. Blackpod is a family heirloom from Shropshire; the flavour is up there, rich and sweet.
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Post by macmex on Jul 29, 2022 7:18:50 GMT -6
That is a bean which would be difficult to grow, here in Oklahoma. I won't say impossible, as "where there is a will, there is often a way," but runner beans generally hate our hot summers. Years ago I grew Insuk's Wang Kong, which is a runner bean which shows some real resistance to heat.
Gardenweb Thread on Insuk's Wang Kong Runner Bean
I believe in that thread I mention that in 2009 I ATE my last pods rather than save seed. I remember now that my youngest daughter and I were home alone and she happily went out to the garden to pick some beans for supper. She picked those, the last of my stock, which were maturing for seed. I didn't have the heart to tell her. So we enjoyed a true gourmet batch of beans that night. I had already passed seed on to Sandhill Preservation Center, where they received a good review, so I stopped growing this bean. While it did alright here, it couldn't compare to p. vulgaris varieties.
Still, the phaseous coccineus (runner beans) are delicious and, oh! so showy!
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