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It's a great story, Jeannine Thanks for sharing. And it sounds like an excellent all-purpose bean too.

No the one I was looking for for so long was a Greek Gigantes, I searched and searched after I was without  but they were small and finally I imported some seeds direct from Greece.

The bean in question was one my son in laws father grew, he got it from a Polish immigrant many years before I came to Canada which was originally 1n 77. My SIL remembers eating as a child. I first grew it in the early 80's with no problems for many years. When I went over to the UK for a few years in 2000 I shared it with gardeners there but it didn't germinate, neither did mine . In fact most everything we had packed and shipped along with our household stuff in a container did not germinate. I think it was because it was prepacked before we left sometime and was actually in a container for  a few months and all through the summer so the heat killed them. When we came back in 2009 I got new seed from him but I haven't grown it for  two or three years and not too often . I did so this  year to specifically replenish the seed.I do have lots of seed but it is getting a bit old now.

The story behind it is this.

The original seed was given to Dan my son in laws father from a Polish immigrant neighbor, he got out of Poland just before WW2 and brought his seeds with him. Don, grew it annually. He told me the original seed was a reddish brown color with no marking and it was kidney shaped. He started to grow  it  and found he liked it better than the other types of pole beans he grew  as it was very prolific. He did grow some bush beans for an earlier harvest. After a few years  he got some different bean colors from his plants but continued on, till eventually it had changed, It is now a light to mid brown color with lighter markings and is more slightly oval to round than in the beginning. It has been stable for decades now and wa the same each year . It looks like a Dragons Tongue bean but is pole not bush. It makes a great green bean, a good shellie with butter and it dries very well. I use mine in Chile oh and it is definitely a French bean not a runner.

Don lived to be 96 and gardened right up to his last year although legally blind. After he was gone his bean seed stash came to me.I still have some of that seed and some of my own.  I christened it the DON OLSON bean but in the family we call it Dad's bean.

Hi - sorry I haven't been around much!

Talking sweet peas, my carefully curated collection gave up the ghost on the other hand, the bung it in a corner wild sweet pea Pink Tangier ( Lathyrus Tingitanus) flourished, I have plenty of seed for the circle , it is very restrained unlike Ipomoea Tutu which is a riot and looks like plenty of seed on the way ,also viola Brush Stokes , definitely noisy in appearance.
Meanwhile the edibles are 'progressing' cress Grandpa's is almost ready , great taste.

Jeannine, is this the Italian bean you were looking for for so long, some time ago?  Glad you found it and hope it comes good soon. 

Yes, Armenian Striped Brown is one of those that is a bit later, but always came good for me.  What does HSL say about their origin? 

Quote from: Jeannine on July 20, 2025, 14:48:01Thank you both, this is my old family bean that I have grown only a couple of times and was determined to get seed from it this year to pass on.  XX Jeannine

Great to have that history. Does it have a name? If it doesn't, perhaps you could give it one?

Apparently it is endemic only on one 2km square in Turkey and has only relatively recently been grown by a few growers outside that region (https://janemming.com/2018/05/06/why-is-this-sweet-pea-so-rare-a-brief-encounter-with-lathyrus-belinensis-of-turkey/)
Before I neglected it and allowed the top growth to die, it managed one delicate flower

Congratulations on getting the Belinensis to come back to life.  Now that is a rare sweet pea, but should still make a metre or 4ft.  Hope it does well for you.

I thought today I saw the first evidence of fresh sprouting, so I gave it another can full of water.  In this 32C heat it is asking a lot, but if it really is trying, that would be good.