Trying again to identify a bean

[Jeannine Anne]

Hi, I have a bean that has bean in my family for generations, I have tried many times to find one like it and failed. I want to offer it around but need to be sure it is not a commercial one I have somehow missed. I don't have a picture as I can't do the camera thing but I think the following will do.

Pole bean

Flat pods, but it is not a runner

Pods are pale green , but, in a good light when you look very carefully there is just a very hard to see trace of a pinky streak, it is barely there, very very faint and is not visible at all until the bean is very mature.

Seeds are the color of a Borlotti shown as picture #1 below but they are the wrong shape.

Picture #2 which is a cranberry variation is the right shape but the wrong color.

I like it as a cooked green bean, but my son in laws father who I got the seed from uses it as a fresh shelled bean. It makes a great dried bean. It does not freeze well.

History as much as I can get is that it was grown in Europe as a family bean , brought to Canada with an immigrant . My SIL's grandfather who got the seeds from the original owner passed it to his son who has grown it himself for more than 60 years which makes the bean pretty old now.. I guess it has changed over the years and acclimatized it self to my SIL fathers garden. I have personally grown it for about 20 years. It has not changed during my time.

Any ideas?

I have bought dozens of different seeds over the years to try to identify it but have never done so.

It is an excellent tasting bean.

[aftermidnight]

Jeannine, that's going to be a toughie, I lucked out and found the history of the Italian bean I've been growing since 1965, it came to Nanaimo from northern Italy in 1911. In my quest for information I compared the one I had to numerous Italian heirloom beans, one was a close but no cigar (Uncle Steve's) none of the other even came close. Mine has a green and purple streaked pod, the seed very similar in shape to your first pic but the color streaks were more like your second pic only a little darker. I had given it a temporary name 'Auntie Vi' but when I found out who had actually brought this bean to Canada I renamed it in her honor. It's now called 'Emilia's Italian pole bean'
I did grow another Italian bean years ago, a neighbor shared a few seeds with me, she just called it a Italian pole bean.. It was the shape of your second pic but the color of the streaks and swirls on the seed were a light brown. The pod was flat and green with light pinkish streaks.

There are so many lookalikes you may never find out what you have, so if you want to share your seed give it a name, perhaps the family name of who you got it from would do. I did that with another heirloom bean I was given it was someone's grandmothers bean so now it has a name 'Grandma's Yugoslavian' .
Annette

[Jeannine Anne]

Annette, it is such a good bean I want to share it, it is very prolific and versatile. I need to give it a name. No one seems to know the name of the person who originally brought it in and we only know the origin as Europe but as it has been grown in the family for so long and SIL's Dad has had it for such a long time I guess it could be called by that name. In which case it would be the Dan Olson bean.. He is in his mid 80's now and is still growing it.

I think that is what I will do unless some one comes up with an identification

XX Jeannine

[Rajun Gardener]

Miss Jeannine,
I would call it Dan Olson, after 60 years he deserves the credit. I'm sure it's not the exact type that came over but after all those years he made it stable and true. Keep his name attached to it so future generations of the family can enjoy the knowledge that he made it possible to share the beans with everyone.

And I would love to try them, PM me your address and I'll send a SASE.

Thanks for sharing this story, I'm always amazed when I hear stories like this. You have to admire and give credit to 1 man that preserves seeds and grows them for that many years, it has to be good if he went though all that for a bean.

[aftermidnight]

Another vote for Dan Olson, in honor of the gentleman who has grown and helped keep it in circulation all these years.

Annette

[oakley]

Great story and needs that name. Or a name you choose. Especially if shared so it can be traced and labeled for others.
If i grew it the label marker would be JAnneDO and the packet full spelling.

[JaxRmrJmr]

I think JaxRmrJmr would be a really good name!

[Jeannine Anne]

Well out of courtesy I will ask him but I think it will be the Dan Olson bean. I am growing quite a lot this year as the seeds I have are a few years old. Having said that though my germination was very good on them, slow to start but a great percentage.

I will be offering the seeds in the fall after I have talked to Don and the name is firm.

XX Jeannine

[rxkeith]

i have had a similar situation with my uncle steve italian pole bean.
he grew it for however long he did. i have been growing it for over 40 yrs now, and still have not come across a named variety just like it, so it continues on as uncle steve.
jeannine, if you would like to swap seeds later in the year, i can send you some, provided i can save enough seed. i am at the extreme northern range for seed saving some bean varieties. it doesn't always happen.

i have had the opportunity to grow several delicious bean varieties from forum members
including annette from B.C. who is as crazy about beans as we are about tomatoes.


keith

[Nattybo!]

I think Dan Olson is a great name! I hope you have a crazy ridiculous bean growing season and absolutely perfect harvest weather!!

[aftermidnight]

Hi Keith, I have your 'Uncle Steve's' bean on my grow list for next year, all being well I'll be able to share seed of your uncle's bean with others in the fall of 2017. I'm growing Emilia's Italian this year.

Annette

[Jeannine Anne]

I have my plants out in the ground now .

[Zeedman]

Originally Posted by Jeannine Anne

I have my plants out in the ground now .

(Watching the snow fall outside as I read this, and dreaming of planting)

[Jeannine Anne]

Just updating this old post as I have not been around for some time.
Things happen as things happen and I lost my beans that year. I didn't have many seeds left so I took a deep breath and planted them all the following year..sadly my whole garden was negelcted as my husband died that summer and I didn't have any more beans seed. Dan, my SIL dad is now almost blind and is now in a sheltered apartment so he was unable to gorw any this last two years. We couldn't find his seed stash when the house was cleared so I thought the end had come..but.... my daughter is a pack rat with a bad memory. I knew she had had a handful of the beans still in the pod and she left them on an old scale as she thought they looked pretty( she is not a gardener) Last year I asked her f I could have them and she said they were gone, she must have chucked them but couldn't remember.

A couple of weeks ago she turned up with them, for some reason she had wanted them off the old scale and chucked 'em in a drawer which she had just opened..

So her I am with seeds that are at least 5 years old that have been kept loose in a hot kitchen.I tried 10 on damp paper etc but nothing, so last week I gave them a good Mommy talk and sowed them under lights on a heating pad on my kitchen counter. I had a little word with them evey day..Today I have green showing..yipee.

Dan is over 90 now and will be thrilled we have found them, he is failing fast so roll on bean picking time, I want to take him some fresh ones just because!!

I still have about 30 of the seeds my daughter chucked in the drawer too so I feel fairly confident.

If all goes well and I see no reason why it shouldn't I will possibly have seeds to share..

So DON OLSON bean..come on little ones. we need you .

Does anyone else get teary eyed over seeds !!!

All prayers willingly accepted.

XX Jeannine

[kath]

So good to see you again, Jeannine Anne! Loved your story and am sending prayers for your little sprouts.

kath