Searching for the Past

Over my many years as a seed saver and as a seed searcher, I recall a good number of successes in locating old varieties that I had been searching for and have maintained in my seed saving collection.

For many of the old varieties that I am searching for, the process continues, and in a number of cases when I had just about given up, seemingly out of nowhere a source would show up and I could celebrate a new success.

There are a number of old varieties that I am still searching for, and for now I have to hope that I will be able to locate more of the varieties that I have been searching for.

One of the heritage varieties that I have been searching for over the years is the white zulu pole bean that was listed in Burpee’s 1888 seed catalog. The bean was described as being 8 to 10 inches long and having black seeds. The pods were “snow white.”

Perhaps this old variety still exists in some gene bank or private collection. Only time will tell.

– John Coykendall, Blackberry Farm Master Gardener