Annette, there is a bean that has several different colors in one pod. Rodger, do you remember the name of that bean? When you told me about the Loudermilk lima you also mentioned that bean with many colors on the same plant. Maybe it is related to Mawma's bean. I did a google search but where the bean is being sold they are calling it the Pebble bean instead of by the family heirloom name. The Purcell Mtn Pebble looks different from the Rancho Gordo Pebble.

Has anyone heard back from Mawma? I hope that emails are not getting lost due to a software problem.

I sent an email just after this post first came up but have not yet heard anything.

DarJones

I also sent an email through GW, haven't heard back as of yet, but it's more important these beans go to someone who can grow them in greater numbers than I. It's just they sounded so darn interesting I would have loved to try a few.

Annette

Looks like the OP hasn't checked back to the thread yet. I sent a test email to George through Gardenweb and it did get through so emails are still working at least some of the time.

I have gotten your e-mails, just haven't been on long enough to answer them. This is the first time I have been back on GardenWeb since I posted about the beans. Send me your mailing address thru my e-mail & I will send you some beans. I will have to see how many I have in order to know how much I can send each of you. I will try to get some pictures of the beans & plants on before too long. My grandma never said where she had got her seeds from. She has been gone 34 years. We got the beans 2 or 3 years before we lost her. I am slow about getting things done Iam afraid. My husband is not in good health, so I have to do everything there is to do around our place, besides helping my sister take care of our Mom, since my Dad passed away a year ago Dec. 4. If I don't get them sent before March remind me please.

There are quite a few skilled preservationists who have already posted, especially Roger & Fusion.... and your beans may be more suited to their warm Southern climates than to my Northern location. So like George, if you only have a limited quantity, I will get seed from one of them in the future. But if you still have seed to spare after filling those requests, I too would be interested. If would like a trade, please take a look at the exchange list on my Gardenweb member page.

Best wishes to you & your loved ones, Mawma.

Based on the 07 thread Zeedman just bumped I can see that the many colors in one pod bean I was thinking of is the Lynches Butter Bean. Description here Lynch Collection Butterbeans - Source: Dr. Chris Inhulsen, Montezuma , GA. The most distinctive feature of the Lynch butterbean is the vast array of colored patterns on the seed. The typical growth habit and heavy production of this sieva pole bean type is characteristic. The surprise comes with shelling each pod as they reveal their myriad of colors. They are best eaten fresh cooked from the garden, but also can be blanched and frozen. Dried seed can also be soaked overnight and cooked as dried beans.

Mawma, does that sound like your bean? Here is a picture too

Happyday, I have two pole beans that are multicolored. One is a cornfield pole bean that came from Ala. the other also a cornfield bean that came from the upstate of SC. Both produce beans with varying color patterns but typically only one pattern per plant but the plants do revert to other patterns. I did try seperating out the colors and planting them in groups. I found that most grew true to the original color but many did revert to other patterns and colors. Both sources are different with different color patterns. What I like about Mawma bean is she states it is bush with some small runners the cornfield beans I have are true pole beans with long vines. Rodger

Happy, thanks for posting a photo of the "Lynches Butter Bean". It bears a strong resemblance to the "Hopi Pole" that I have grown in the past. That bean had enormous yields, and the flavor & color were outstanding... but it was late, and could never ripen its entire crop in my short summers. If the "Lynches" has a maturity comparable to "Sieva" (the SSE Yearbook entries support this) then it might be better adapted to my area. I hope to give it a trial next year.

Mawma's creaseback beans are most likely P. vulgaris. "Creaseback" beans are snap beans that are wider than they are deep, with a crease running down the back. This one sounds interesting.

Here's a picture of Mawma's Crazy Creasebacks,

I'm only going to grow 5 in a container, I don't want to waste them if they don't like our climate. This way I can move them into the greenhouse if the weather isn't cooperating.
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Annette

I got beans off to 10 people this last week. You should be getting them by now or soon. Hope everyone has good luck wtih them & likes them. Let me know how they do & if you like them please. We haven't put anything in the ground yet. Cleaned out the strawberry bed today & worked with my flowers. I have so many daffodils it not even funny.Do not be surprized that when you collect your seed from the beans for next year that you find black ones wtih the varigetd pattern on them. I have planted the black ones & get all the different ones from them.

Mine came today, thanks Mawma! It has one of the black with brown flecks. I look forward to trying them.

If your grandma lost the seed, how did you find them again?

I received the seed in good condition and plan to plant them in about a week and a half. Thanks!

What name would you prefer we use for these? It would be best if we all start out using the same name. I don't have the info at hand, at the moment, but what about " family name's Crazy Bean" or "Family Name's Creaseback?"

George

I received my beans on Saturday Planted them yesterday in peat pots in the greenhouse they will go in the ground in a week or two. My had 4 distinct colors with the one in the picture being predominent. Rodger

George has brought up a good point, we should all call them by the same name. Did anyone else get them out west, Washington, California? So far it looks like they'll be grown in several different locations, hopefully they'll do well for all of us. I'll keep notes on mine, maybe we can compare how they did at the end of the season.

Annette

Update.... I just had an email from Mawma and she said if she gets to name them and since she doesn't know the real name she would like them to be called "Woods Mtn Beans" (I'm assuming Mtn stands for mountain) because this is where they lived when her mother was given the beans and, even tho they don't live or own land there anymore it will always be home to them.

It's going to be interesting to see what kind of a bean they turn out to be as the story behind them in short is... the lady who gave them to Mawma's mom called them italian, Mawma's family called them crazy because of the way they behaved, when her grandmother saw them she called them creasebacks. IMO "Woods Mtn Beans" is a great name for this little bean.

Annette

Glad that some of you are getting your beans. I had a few minutes, so thought I would get on here. As far as my grandmother losing her seed. I don't rightly know. I do know that their house burned when I was around three. Before that when my Mom was small their barn burned with 3 teams of horses, their tack & everything els, hay, corn, sorgum molasses, so it could have been either time. I just know that my grandmother was tickled pink to get the seed again. A friend of my Moms gave her the beans, but she called them italian beans. All I know is that they are the best bean that we have tried. Good Luck to all of you.

My seed arrived in good condition today. Thank you, Mamaw. I'm afraid that I won't be able to plant them anywhere near as early as George & Rodger; my target date for beans here is June 1st. They will be started indoors in peat pots about 2 weeks before that.

Zeedman, will you put sand under the peat pots or just put the peat pots in a bare tray?

Sounds like "Woods Mountain" it is. That has a nice ring to it. Mawma, if you do us the favor, just confirm this.

George

Ok fellow garderns The name of the beans will be "Woods Mountain Crazy Bean". That way I keep part of the name we called them by. Hope everyone has good luck with their seeds & that they like the beans as much as we do. I will say that if they produce like they normally do you will have beans coming out of your ears. My Aunt had always had green beans that had one big crop & that was it. With these she got tired of picking & canning. Because they keep putting on all the time.

Mawma,

I received my beans. Thanks so much for sharing this bean with us. I am so excited to try it! And I love the name "Woods Mountain Crazy beans."

Thanks again,
Mike

Here's a couple of pictures of the Woods Mountain Crazy Beans, the bed is about 3 feet wide, 30 feet long. I asked Mawma if it was alright to post the pics she sent me, she gave me the O.K. so here they are. Three families canned off that row of beans.

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Beautiful! I like to see heirlooms grown in quantity and used as originally intended. Woods Mtn Crazy Bean looks like a real workhorse.

George

I received my seed last Friday and planted all of them in 4" pots to be transplanted at a later date.I'm happy to report all 20 have germinated and 9 of the tallest are already above three inches tall. Looks like crazy beans like crazy southeast Texas weather.
Thanks again Mawma

Planted 5 Woods Mtn Crazy beans in pots in the greenhouse yesterday. Not knowing if they will like our climate these will be transplanted into a large container that can be moved out or back into the greenhouse if needed, it's still too early to plant beans outside, soil temp is still only about 48 degrees here but at least the clock is ticking now.

Annette

I feel blessed as they originate in the same climate and not too far away from Tahlequah!

George

The WMC beans I planted in a container have their second sets of leaves, looking good. They'll probably go outside next week, our weather looks like it's finally smartening up.
Thanks Mawma for sending me some to try.

Annette

Mawma.I picked my first crazy beans today,2 1/4 pounds, and left a bunch to dry for early seed. You were right about the pods hiding under the plants. If these plants survive this hot Texas weather I'll pick bushels before this summer is over. Thanks again for the seed.
Harry

Well Mawma, crazy beans they are, no beans yet but the few I planted are loaded and I mean loaded with flowers, they seem to love our climate. I'm going to leave mine for seed this year but next year we'll eat :). Thanks again for sharing seed with me.

Annette

I can say that these are Crazy beans. I had 12 seeds to start with 1 black 3 black with brown stripes and 8 brown with black stripes. I went against everything I was taught and planted all 12 seeds in individual 2in peat pots. I had 8 to germinate. Of the 8 I had 2 that mysteriously died with in a couple of days of setting out. The remaining 6 grew and and while hoeing weeds I cut one down( I should have hand weeded). the remaining 5 continued for another week until and accident with a trencher that my son was using to help me install a permenent irrigation line for the garden cut through them leaving only one plant. That one plant is prospering in the 90 plus humid heat and nights of low to mid 70's. Currently the plant has pods that are at the sheely stage fresh snap stage and earlier with blooms still coming on. I counted 21 mature beans on this one plant with another dozen or more newly formed pods and blooms. Some pods are solid green, some green with a purple hue and other are striped like a rattlesnake bean. All the beans are a uniform 5inches long. It will be another week before I have the first seed but I am hoping to see some black , black with brown stripes and brown with black stripes like I started with. But my experience has been only one seed type on any given plant. I have pictures posted on my website with the link below. Thanks Mawma for the seed this is the first bush multicolored bean I have. Rodger

Here is a link that might be useful: Rodger's heirlooms

I believe that I stashed my seed in a zip lock, neglecting to label them. Anyway, I dug them up on the 19th of June and planted 10. Our conditions have been very hot and dry. Four came up and a rabbit got one. But I'm babying the other three. Here's hoping!

George
Tahlequah, OK

I harvested the first dry seed yesterday 46 seeds all tan with black markings. The plant is still blooming and setting pods with more dry seed to be ready in a week. Not bad to go from 12 seeds to one plant then to 46 seed. I plan to plant a fall crop in a couple of weeks from the fresh seed. Rodger

I now have four up and growing. Here's a photo which shows something I'm trying, to discourage rabbits. It seems to prevent them from eating a seedling down to the point that it won't recover.

I'm impressed. My Woods Mountain Crazy Beans are just beginning to bloom. But they are in the best condition of any of the survivors in our gardens. We've been 48 days over 100 F, each day, and this bean is handling it quite well. It does have thick foliage which seems to help it withstand lots of heat.

George

Well, of the original four plants, only one survived the rabbits ( the one pictured above, in the red coffee can). I replanted and got three more to grow. They, of course, are behind that older plant. These plants definitely handled our extreme heat better than most. The oldest plant just gave me about 30 dry seed, with a good many more, soon to follow. This bean is a keeper!
As mentioned before, it is a true bush, but of VERY dense growth habit. Mature pods show red mottling. I only ate one green bean, and that raw. But flavor seems to be good. I can't wait to grow a regular patch of these, hopefully in 2012.

George

They do well in cool summers too. The few I planted grew and produced a lot of beans, I only ate one and that raw, it was sweet and I thought had a great flavor.
I don't plant bush beans as a rule but I will be planting a row of these next year, it's a winner in my books. I did get two different colored beans when I shelled them out and like George's the mature pods had red mottling.

Annette

We had our first frost Wednesday morning. Yesterday was the real killing freeze. Plants
I covered with tarps still froze. But Tuesday we put a portable cold frame over four of
the five plants of Woods Mountain Crazy Bean in an attempt to get more seed, especially
from the four plants which are only about to produce. I cut this plant to hang indoors,
since it didn't fit under my cover and, I've already harvested a decent amount of seed
from it.

Notice the structure of this variety. It's like a pole or half runner that's been
truncated. It's REALLY thick! Perhaps this contributes to the variety's heat tolerance
and productivity... Very nice bean.

George

This year I planted about 30' of Woods Mountain Crazy Bean. Will have to get a picture. They are growing quite well and we have made a couple of pickings. I'm leaving about 10' for seed.

Here are two more observations about this bean:

1) When grown in a wide row (at least at my place) they start to show some characteristics of a non-vining half runner. It's a GOOD THING they are non-vining, or I'd never be able to get through the tangle, in order to pick.

2) The pods pull free from the vine very easily; easier than do most beans, which makes for easier picking.

George

Mine aren't flowering yet but they're looking good, we'll actually get to eat a few this year but the rest will have to be saved for seed.

Annette

Well, although I was unable to plant WMCB last year (along with almost everything else I had planned) I had better luck this year. All of my gardens are completely planted, so barring the unforeseen, it should be a good year for the preservation crops.

As stated earlier in the thread, I started WMCB in peat pots. The peat strips were packed tightly in a flat with other things, so I did not use sand in the bottom. 16 of 16 germinated, which is impressive. They were transplanted last week, and are doing well. Each plant is spaced 12" apart in a double row, so if all goes well, I should get a good seed increase.

I should note that two other beans were in the same flat (including Poletschka) and the WMCB virtually jumped out of the ground by comparison with the other two. The seedlings are very vigorous.

And to think I was afraid it would be too cool here for their liking! It's been incredibly warm up here for this early in the season, five 90 degree days already in June, with another on the way tomorrow.

They should feel right at home then! I live a little over a hour away from their origins, and 90s have been the norm, here, since sometime in May. This bean handles heat!

George

I planted 6 20ft rows. They are loaded and we have enjoyed several meals. I am really inpressed with this bean. I ended up with about a pint of seed from two plants and all seed was tan with black markings. The plants this year have a mix of beans from solid green to green with purple stripes and some that are nearly a solid purple tinge over green. Can't wait to see what the seed turns out to be. I was late getting my Mexican Bean Beetle wasp in and the beetles have done a number on the center section of the plants plants but I am seeing less MBB now.. George I am seeing the same results you mentioned, the plants are in rows 30in apart and have filled in to form a complete solid mass of beans. The tops are extended out some showing blooms above the leaves but not really running. Rodger

I have a tiny patch of this bean growing from a small sample of seeds sent to me by flintknapper. So far, they seem to be dealing with our 100+ F heat wave rather well and are currently flowering with pretty purple blooms.

Can anyone tell me what is the best stage to harvest this variety? Should they be picked like Blue Lake before the pods fill out, or should they be picked "Appalachian-style" with pods filled with maturing seeds?

We picked our first pickings when they were small and tender, like Blue Lake, and they were good that way; entirely stringless. Later I started picking them Appalachian style, at which point they have heavy strings and tender pods. They make up more bulk for processing this way, and they taste great. But, alas, I have yet to find a bush variety which is so easy to accumulate "bulk," for processing, as Tennessee Cutshort (Pole) or some of the other pole varieties. Once the pole beans start coming in, I want to pick them, as I can fill a bucket much more quickly, and it is easier pickings.

Still, I intend to grow Woods Mountain Crazy Bean from now on. It is really prolific and definitely heat resistant.

George

I guess my pictures were deleted when the Apple Cloud Site shut down so here they are again. The first pic is the seed I got from Mawma. The next two are a pic of the beans and the row of WMCB's 3 families canned from.

Annette

We finally get to eat some this year, this little patch I'm growing around a Rosemary plant are simply loaded with flowers and small beans. Talk about prolific , I've never seen the likes of it :).
Annette,

This summer, toward the end of when I should have already harvested a good many green beans, I had very few. Though our growing season had been milder and wetter than usual, we still had far too many grasshoppers. The hoppers had decimated most of my pole beans. I hadn't had time to plant much else. Surveying the garden situation, I decided that I needed to do something about our looming bean shortage. Clearing out an 8' X 20' area which had onions, I did a 4-5' by 20' planting of Woods Mountain Crazy Bean (actually two double rows, planted so close together that they became one 4-5' wide row). The plants grew rapidly, obviously enjoying our conditions. Around the end of July I planted an two 15' double rows. I got busy, and in September, when I thought to check under the leaves, I had a BUMPER crop of beautiful snaps! We've been canning beans since that time. Here are two pictures. One of a single plant at the time of its first picking. The other picture is just what I harvested yesterday in the time I could get. There are still a LOT more out there!

My first planting produced a lot and then quit. About the time it quit, the second planting started to kick in. Yesterday, I picked everything available from the second planting. Then, on a hunch, I went back to check the planting. Those plants look ratty. No beans were visible from above. But I knelt down and looked down deep and... they had a full crop of new beans, ready for picking!

Today we'll be canning some more! This bean is so well suited for our conditions that it is amazing how it can make food for us. Though, since I am not much of a bush bean grower, and this was my only bush bean, this year, I wonder if the grasshoppers simply don't like low growing beans as much as high.

Two more observations:
1) When I leave pods on this variety to dry down completely, they tend to break down and allow water damage of the seed, when it rains. I'm going to start picking yellowing pods and dry them indoors on a sheet.

2) The easy separation of pods from the plant, which I observed in 2011 and 2012 is not present in this year's planting. I have to be careful not to damage the plants when picking. I don't know why this trait did not express itself this year.

George

Great harvest George, even in the small patch I had they outdid themselves. i don't usually grow bush beans but this one I'll definitely grow every other year. I'm going to try Regal Salad next year, supposed to be nice raw.

Annette