#crimsonfloweringfava

[seedkeeping]

Crimson Flowered Fava is an English heirloom broad bean that was first documented in 1778 and then saved from near extinction exactly 200 years later when Rhoda Catbush shared her last four seeds with the Henry Doubleday Research Association and eventually a fleet of volunteer growers. Crossing fingers we will have enough seed harvest this year to share through Truelove Seeds! #crimsonflowered #crimsonfloweredbroadbean #crimsonfloweringbroadbeans #crimsonfloweringfava #heirloomfavas #viciafaba #seedkeeping https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx0wKCQFiTQ/?igshid=eq2r6luv34em

[seedkeeping]

Rhoda Catbush had four remaining seeds of Crimson Flowering Broad Bean in 1978, exactly two hundred years after it was first documented in Mawe and Abercrombie's "Every Man His Own Gardener". She'd been growing the gorgeous variety for many years, just as her father had since before World War One. She lost her crop that year and gave the last four seeds to the Henry Doubleday Research Association who helped revive the English heirloom with the help of volunteer growers. I know this plant from my time with William Woys Weaver and his Roughwood Seed Collection. We never got enough to eat, but this year I ordered seeds from England and hope to both eat this beauty, and have seed to share. I've already tried the flowers and leaves and they are tasty! #crimsonfloweredbroadbean #crimsonfloweringfava #crimsonfloweredfava #crimsonfloweringbroadbeans #viciafaba #fava #broadbean #favaflowers #favabeans #catbush #henrydoubleday #henrydoubledayresearchassociation #seedsaving #seedkeeping (at Newtown Square, Pennsylvania)