'Magic Mix' Pole Bean

Phaseolus vulgaris Origin: Western North Carolina Improvement status: Breeding population Seeds per packet: ~35 Germination tested 11/2024: 96% Life cycle: Annual This story is an excellent example of finding some lemons and making lemonade! We'll let Utopian Seed Project founder and breeder Chris Smith take it from here: "The 'Magic Mix' pole bean is an ongoing mystery. About 8 years ago I planted 'Cherokee Trail of Tears', a well-known black-seeded pole bean that was carried along the Trail of Tears by Cherokee seed keepers as they were forcibly expelled from their ancestral homelands in Tennessee in the 1830s. The seeds I planted were from renowned seed (and especially bean) saver, Mr. Bill Best. They were the only beans I grew that year and I saved the beautiful purple beans for replanting the following year. The following year the beans exploded into a wide diversity of phenotypes and have continued to shift and express themselves over time. In the early days of the mystery I corr