Barksdale is the only yellow bean I'm growing this year, I didn't have many seeds to plant as I had to pull the vines last year and finish drying them in the greenhouse. The seed I saved was kind of wrinkled so I planted them with crossed fingers. They're doing much better this year and it looks like I'm going to get some decent seed.
We had some for dinner sunday night, they were really tender and tasty, I was impressed.

I have Marengo in my seed stash but after hearing how you liked them I'll probably give them a pass, I have a few more yellows in the stash but think I'll grow Barksdale again and maybe one more yellow, I think it's the black seeded Marvel of Venice.

Annette

I've heard good things about Marvel of Venice. And I'm glad so many people are rowing Barksdale, it is a great bean. Have you grown Uzice Speckled Wax? I'd love to share!

Toward the end of the season, don't forget to let some of the "Uzice Speckled Wax" get large... which will be easy if you are saving seed. The shellies are surprisingly large for a wax bean & worth trying, one of the unique characteristics of this variety.

Interesting note about the full pole habit. I'm coming to realize that there is a category of pole bean that lies somewhere between "half runner" and rampant pole; they perform as half runner under my culture & conditions, but as pole elsewhere. It could be the wide spacing I use, and/or the nitrogen in the soil from all of the legumes I grow.

I categorize a bean as "half runner" if it sends only one or two runners to the top of the trellis, with the majority of the growth & pods in the first few feet. "Uzice", "Bert Goodwin", and "Austrian Soup" are varieties that have performed that way for me. In contrast, the more rampant varieties ("KY Wonder", "Fortex", "Ma Williams", etc.) send several runners to the top & beyond, with pods borne evenly from top to bottom.

Perhaps my definition of "half runner" has been too broad, "weak climber" might be a more appropriate designation.

Barksdale is a fine wax bean but it is difficult to save seeds most places in the country. I would continue to grow it if I could simply buy seed.

I grow Uzice Speckled Wax every year for snaps when they are small and for shellies when they mature. They have never failed to make mature seed so I do not bother to start them in pots. This summer they just now blossomed and there are no snaps yet. Like Bosnian Pole it needs warm weather to thrive and temperatures have been far below normal so far most days. - Dick

Here's a pic of my Barksdale from a couple of weeks ago, the pods are softening so I'm hoping I won't have to pull the vines this year.

Our weather is holding, this weekend the weatherman says it's going to be quite warm which is too hot for me. So fingers crossed I'll get some good seed.

Nick, I'd love a few Uzice Speckled Wax, I'll email you.

Annette

I sent emails to both Annette and Nick through Gardenweb, did either of you get it? I got the copy sent to my address from both of them.

Happy if you sent me one through GW recently I didn't get it, I don't send through GW anymore, I'll try sending you one through GW we'll see if you get it. I don't think GW's has worked for some time now. I was getting a lot of spam a few weeks back but it seems to have slowed down now, I wonder if there's a connection there.

Annette

I got both emails and replied. I just have to get some stamps and I'll send out the seeds.

We should thank Alex for bring such a good bean from Uzice. This is what they taste like "back in the old country". Veggies rarely have to travel more than half a day to my knowledge for many market growers, and are sold locally, and picked at the perfect timing. I haven't been back in a while, so I don't know if this has changed. But people actually care about flavor there, and like the awesome people here like you guys that save flavorful varieties, farmers save seeds for the veggies that taste good, not travel best. Like my baba, who took over some seeds from Montenegro before the breakup of the six Yugoslav republics. Her Romano bean saved since God knows when is excellent, and it was a good thing it would sell so fast in market, because it doesn't last too long, unlike the Blue Lakes here that never seem to soften. But this bean is truly a gem, I'm so glad you guys want to grow it.

So glad to hear reports about Barksdale. I concur with what has already been mentioned. I've decided I need to limit my varieties in order to do justice to what I grow. Barksdale is one of my highest priorities, though I fully understand Dick's decision to move on to another. Somewhere, I suspect, there is a place with the "custom climate" for this bean.

I believe the key for preservation is: 1) get varieties into as many hands as possible, 2) have as MANY gardeners as possible growing and saving seed, & 3) when a gardener has a special family heirloom they need to put that as the highest possible priority, as commonly, there are few others who will treasure it, like they will.

George
Tahlequah, OK

George, I have grown the commercially available (to me) wax beans in the past but gave up on them because I didn't care for the texture or the flavor. Barksdale is something else, in a class of it's own, so tender and tasty. I plan on growing this one every year in hopes it will eventually aclimatize to my growing conditions, in any case I'll take extra care with them just to be on the safe side. Hopefully in the next couple of years I'll have enough seed to share with others up here.

Annette

Every so often I get a really good crop of seed from Barksdale. 2009 was such a year. I have quite a good store of it, and it's showing good viability. This year, however, I doubt I'll get any seed. I have a couple of plants still growing, and I know this one will produce when the nights cool, but we're STARVED for beans this year, haven't had a single meal of snaps! So I suspect I'll feed them to the family ;)

As mentioned elsewhere, Barksdale seems to handle heat just fine. It just doesn't really set pods until the nights cool down. It's a fine bean. But I wouldn't recommend it as one's main crop.

George

There are a few more heirloom wax beans that I will mention briefly. I've become fascinated by pole wax beans, and have been collecting quite a few.

***"Blue Blockeye" - weak climber, small 4-5" very straight pods, black & white seed similar to "Yin Yang".
"Maradan Hill" - strong climber, flat 4-5" pods, round shiny black seed. Very prolific.
"Olteanu's Romanian Yellow" - short, very flat pods, shiny purple seeds w/white mottling, look like miniature runner beans. I was not impressed by anything but the seed color; however, it was grown on very poor soil, so might warrant a second trial under better conditions. You can probably guess where it's from. ;-)
"Tisa" - strong climber, very uniform 6-7" scimitar-shaped pods, unusual flavor but developed strings, dark brown seed, from Serbia.
***"Zlatac" - vigorous climber, 5" pods that remain stringless & fiber-free for a long time, shellies are small but fat & delicious, grayish-brown seed, from Czech Republic. A real keeper.

There are three others I've yet to grow:
"Lilaschecke" - white seed w/purple patches, from Czech Republic.
***"Schwartz Witwe" - gray seed w/black speckles, from Austria.
"Turkish Pea" - small, nearly spherical white seed.

I won't say that I have been avoiding the white-seeded cultivars; I've grown "Barksdale", "B.B. Wax" and "Goldmarie". For preservation, though, I've mostly been seeking the non white-seeded cultivars, since they seem to the least commonly grown.

Those marked *** have been dropped by their original sources in SSE. Others were introduced here by Alex, or are only carried presently by SSE's Heritage Farm. Like good shelly beans, there are many virtually unknown wax varieties that are in desperate need of preservation.

George, except for 2009 recent summers have been much cooler than normal here. When it looks like we will gave another good gardening year I would like to try Barksdale again and really baby them and see if I can get a good batch of seed. It is a great bean.

We are feeding several families with abundant Emerite and Fortex. Hoping that we will be able to do the same with Tennessee Cutshort. Dick