see growitalian.com and check out the beans. Signora della Campagna and Lamon fit the description.

DarJones

Thanks DarJones. The picture resolution is not good enough on their web site at growitalian.com to determine if the markings on the seeds are the same. Both look good though! 'Signora de la campagna'....it will have to be 'senyora del camp'? (I can't give an Italian name to a Catalan bean!)

I suppose I can grow them and find out. The red splotches on the pods are distinctive, and I am sure I'll be able to tell if they want to be bush or pole. Both varieties from Growitalian were pole, but the ones pictured above might not be? Hard to tell of course. I am doubting their 'poleness' because they were not so expensive, but this is just a guess on my part.

It will have to wait until early spring. I will post what I get, if I can get them to sprout.

I can't put my hands on it now, but I think the Vermont Bean & Seed catalog had a picture of beans that looked like this either last year or year before... HTH Cindy

Here is a link that might be useful: Vermont Bean & Seed

They look identical to Borlotto Lingua di Fuoco which I have grown. It is a pole shelly with attractive bright red pods. - Dick

You can rule out Signora della Campagna, I just shelled one it has black swirls/stripes on a beige background.

Annette

You would probably have to grow them out to really start determining what kind they are, if then. Those markings are common on a number of varieties. It makes me smile, reading "they're just beans." I remember when we lived in rural Mexico and I'd come across an unusual tomato (just for example) in the market. In the early years I'd ask (in Spanish) "What kind of tomato is this?" The little campesino vendor would eyeball me and conclude that my Spanish wasn't working very well. So they'd respond, very s l o w l y... "It's a round red tomato ..."
Variety didn't enter into their way of thinking at all.

George
Tahlequah, OK

LOL @ George's story.

I agree, they could be any one of many named beans. Why not grow them out, see what you think of their characteristics, maybe name them yourself. Or if you would like to do a trade, I could try growing them for you next year.

I will grow them next spring. Chances are they are pole beans, which is good in my limited space. If they are something like Borlotto Lingua di fuoco or similar this is encouraging and interesting, since I have never grown any beans resembling them. The climate where I will grow them is somewhat similar to the climate where they were purchased (and hopefully grown?) so this is also encouraging.

I previously posted that the Signora della Campagna seed I just shelled out were white with black swirls, this variety is supposed to be cream with REDDISH swirls according the picture of them on the Seeds from Italy site.

When I shelled out the few Zelma Zesta I had they looked identical to what I had been growing as Signora della Campagna. I'm pretty sure I didn't mix them up when I planted them but... I also compared the thoroughly dried seed of both Zelma Zesta and Signora della Campagna and they look identical too. The ZZ's I got in trade, the Signora della Campagna I bought. Is anyone else growing Signora della Campagna from Seeds from Italy this year? What's the color of your seed?

Annette

They certainly look like Borlotti of some sort.

I did an image search for both beans and some sellers show "Signora della Campagna" as a very j-curved bean while others show it as nearly straight, looking like Rodger's pictures of the Zelma Zesta.