I was wondering if anyone's ever planted beans from Purcell Mountain Farms or a similar seller of heirloom eating beans and had them come true reliably? Many of the beans they list have "creative" names, but I think I could find their proper name just fine (the ones I don't know already). I know we planted pintos, black eyed peas and limas from store bought eating beans when I was a kid and they always came true, but those were most likely grown in massive fields of the same variety, so not much chance of crossing except at the edges of the fields. And since we weren't saving seed, it didn't much matter if they did have a few seeds that were crossed.

I'm thinking of doing this as I would be able to eat some of them to tell if I liked the taste before devoting space in the garden to them (I know homegrown would still taste better, but I'd atleast get an idea). But I'm hoping to save seeds from them for trading, so would like to know if you think this a good idea or not. I'd hate to inadvertently muddy the gene pool.

So, two questions:

1. What's been your experience with unbagged/uncaged beans crossing when grown in relatively close proximity to other varieties (such as in a home garden)?

2. What do you think the chances are of me getting the true and pure strain/variety if I grew out some of those eating beans from Purcell and saved seed for trading (taking care to ensure no crossing in my own garden)? Good idea or bad idea?