BEANS.... collecting unusual varieties...ISO

[muffin]

I am looking for some interesting DRY bean types, nice colorful seeds from named varieties...One I want is Florelle Fliederfarben (really)...I saw it but have not been able to find it so far this year. Also looking for other colorful true variety bean seeds! OH, and anyone grow BANNER BROAD BEAN? Have been hunting for this one for a few years now!

[TomK]

Muffin..have you tried the listing available from Heritage Harvest Seeds in Manitoba?...i get my seeds from them and have great results...i don't see that particular variety listed but they may be able to point you in the right direction...i grew blue coco and dragons tongue last year...awesome production and I'm looking forward to trying some of the rare varieties offered as well this year...kinda excited

[StarviewRidge]

We grow many different kinds here, but unfortunately didn't have a great year for seed keeping out of our garden so we don't really have any to really spare...going to have to be a big seed collecting year for us with grow outs. I source a lot of our varieties from The Cottage Gardener here in Ontario. But if you want to find some truly weird and wonderful varieties that most don't have, try Joseph Simcox's site http://www.growrareseeds.com/ I consider him the Indiana Jones of seed collection, exploring all over the planet for some of the rarest and tastiest plants. He has a big selection of different beans on his site...unfortunately with our dollar the way it is, ordering them is more expensive than ever.

I put an order in last week from him for some new stuff to do grow outs and seed collecting.

[StarviewRidge]

I should add that during most years I am all for seed swapping, as we have hundreds of different kinds of seed...but just had a bad year for keeping. Hopefully next winter I will have loads to trade again.

[muffin]

I know most of the hard to find suppliers...but I always want something that only ONE has, or HAD...it seems! We do a vast amount of seed saving, have boxes and boxes of seed that we have saved! Plan is to set up a seedbank with more controlled seed storage....one day. I started CARDOON from seed I saved - one freaky awesome plant! Hoping to grow out a few this year. And ALWAYS hunting for DAHLIA flower seeds too, I plan to do my own breeding this summer if all goes well, but in the meantime...