Sunday 21 February 2010

The Bean Project - Ernie's Big Eye

Ernie's Big Eye

Bush

These have got to be one of the loveliest looking beans ever! I really can't wait to get a tray full of these this summer.

5 comments:

BlueJay77 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Zazen999 said...

Thanks BlueJay77 - what a wonderful bit of history.

BlueJay77 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
BlueJay77 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
BlueJay77 said...

This bean variety was discovered as a cross in the bean garden of Ernest B. Dana back in the 1970's. He grew it and selected the original seed over a couple of growings seasons to stablize it into a genuine new variety after he discovered the bean. Mr. Dana lived in Etna, New Hampshire. One of the parents of Ernie's Big Eye is Jacob's Cattle. I don't believe that Mr. Dana ever knew what the other crossing variety was. You will notice that Ernie's Big Eye displays are larger area of white coloration on the seed than does Jacob's Cattle. Ernest B. Dana and myself were both members of The Seed Savers Exchange, and also John Withee's Wanigan Associates, and we corresponded frequently.