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Blue Jay

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VEGETABLES / BEAN
SNAP-BUSH
Bush/Snap. Early 48-55 days to snaps, 90 days to the start of dry pods. Widely adapted. Tested this bean in 2014 for it's culinary values. Found the green podded snap pods to cook tender and stringless up to 7 inches in length, and are of excellent flavor. This one works well in a baked bean recipe too. Blossom pink. Pods 4-6 x 3/8" with 4-5 seeds that when harvested new are a mottled pattern of navy blue and silvery-white, or silvery-gray which turns light tan or beige as the seed ages. Seeds seem to germinate well in cooler soils than many other snap beans. Plants are 20" tall or taller (depending on the soil where they are grown) upright without runners, and very productive. Discovered and named by me in 1977. Found it growing among plants of the white seeded 19th century French snap bean Comtesse de Chambord (Bn 226). I had first listed Blue Jay in the SSE yearbook for seven years from 1980 to 1986. My most recent acquistion of seed had been Heritage Farm in 2011. This variety was brought to commercial status in Canada by Bob Wildfong and Shirley Bellows of Seeds of Diversity Canada. Sold by Andrea Berry's Hope Seeds & Perennials plus over 10 other Canadian seed companies. The very first seed company to sell this variety commerically was Fox Hollow Seed Company from Pennsylvania in the 1990's. You can read the full story of Blue Jay, from my discovery of the bean to its journey into Canada on my website http://www.abeancoll
$5.00
Listed In: 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
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Illinois
USDA Hardiness: 5
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