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Grandpa's cress is a land cress , it's from HSL , it's very easy to grow with a great flavour I will now grow it instead of rocket. I think viola plants see me coming , ripe seeds ... now you see them now you don't ... but I have plenty to share . Ipomoea Tutu, the first few flowers are the standard sort but as the plant grows the show begins, fingers crossed they come true .

What a lovely story, Jeannie!  I'm not part of the seed sharing circle, but always enjoy reading about it, and am full of admiration for the knowledgable people who keep these heritage seeds going, so important.
I was the very grateful recipient back in  2009 or 2010  of a special bean from Galina, when horrendous storms wrecked our garden here in SW France.  It is the North Carolina Long Speckled Greasy Cut-Short bean, what a wonderful name!  I still grow it and treasure it every year. 
Keep the stories coming!

And I can vouch for the continued circulation of Mantra which I loved growing in 2022. It's a great variety.

So the legacy of the fabled circulating seed parcel continues, and its seeds carry on being distributed further and more widely.

Quote from: BarriedaleNick on July 21, 2025, 14:17:55Hi - sorry I haven't been around much!

Are you OK? Just busy?
Good to hear from you.

Thank you for telling us about Dad's bean, Don Olson, Jeannine.  Hope they will rally soon.  Last year I despaired over Barksdale Wax Pole bean.  But as soon as it got a little bit cooler, that one exploded into new growth, flowers and very heavy bearing.


By the way, just looked it up - I still grow Safari, Saxon, Valena Italian and Mantra from the wonderful seed share round robin, that you and Jayb organised all those years ago, and I shared Mantra with the seed circle. 

That sounds like some very interesting contributions, MR, and great to have another sweet pea, especially a species one.

I looked up,Ipomoea 'Tutu'. It looks as if it was only introduced a couple of years ago so you're very quick off the mark, Markfield. It will be interesting to see whether it comes true from seed. I grow the standard Ipomoea purpurea most years; it will be good to have a pink one for contrast.

And I love violas but quite difficult to capture the seeds. I hope you manage a good haul. Another very striking one.

What kind of cress is your cress? Is it a land cress? Exciting times!

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.