Country Gentleman Corn

High-yielding yellow bush bean. Can withstand comparison with the Beurre de Rocquencourt. Delicious long yellow pods with black seeds. Can be eaten when young and tender or as a dry bean. Very productive over a long period of time, the more you pick the more it will give you beans. This old variety comes from Sainte-Hélène, Kamouraska County, where it has been cultivated since time immemorial by Rollande Labrie (born in 1923) and her family. We are proud to offer it and ensure its preservation. Wax bean originally comes from Algeria. Under the name Algiers Bean, it made its appearance in France in the 1840s. From then on, the French selected and developed many yellow wax beans with black seeds. The most famous one is the Beurre de Rocquencourt, named after a town near Versailles.   Package: 30-35 seeds

Spice up movie night with your own homegrown popcorn! This variety is crunchy and has a rich taste, making it ideal for a healthy snack as well. The seeds are lustrous and black, and pop into appetizing white popcorns. This variety was developed by the Prairie Road Organic Seed Farm in North Dakota, to our taste buds' greatest pleasure! Adapted to colder climates and easy to grow, unless you have some hungry birds roaming around your garden! (in which case we recommend using nets) Package: Around 35 seeds If you struggle getting your corn to pop: https://www.theartofdoingstuff.com/why-popcorn-sometimes-doesnt-pop/

Beautiful and strong plant. It has dark pink corolla flowers covered in purple stripes, greatly appreciated by pollinators since they are in bloom for a long period. Self-sows, year after year. Can grow up to 1.5 m in height. Easy to grow, it will surely be a great addition to your garden or flowerbeds. Package: 100 seeds

Scorzonera hispanica Black salsify or Spanish salsify is a vegetable cultivated for its long black skinned taproot. The name Scorzonera derives from the Italian scorza (bark) and nera (black). As we might be able to guess from its yellow flowers, the plant belongs to the Asteraceae family. Just like the root, the leaves are edible and so are the flowers before they open, like small broccolis. The white fleshed root may be harvested during the first or second year. To develop up its full potential, the plant needs to grow in a soil deep enough. If you let it overwinter in the ground, even here in Quebec, the plant will produce flowers the following year. Once they are ripe, it will be time for you to harvest the seeds, but beware : birds, and especially goldfinch, love them! Black salsify is rich in carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins.

Antoine D'Avignon was a ancient vegetable lover. A pioneer in Quebec for heirloom seed saving, he grew, harvested and shared the seeds of numerous varieties that would have otherwise been forgotten by now. Notably, Louis-Marie's Crotte d'ours potato, Suzanne Bourgeois's Ice Grow tomato, Huron wheat, and... this corn. In an interview in the late 1990s he reached out for help to the public: the Quebec corn that our grandmas used to cultivate has disappeared. Nobody is growing flour corn anymore. After the interview, a lady called the radio station claiming that she did have seeds of a flour corn that had been grown by her family for ages. This is how she came into contact with Antoine and shared with him her precious treasure. Then, during that summer, Antoine ends up mentioning the corn to a friend, Mrs. France Bouffard. She is really interested and ask for a couple seeds. Reluctant as he as only a few, he ends up giving her 6 seeds. She grew those and multiplied them, enough to make flour for her pancakes. The story could have ended there. Sadly it did not as Antoine died still young and took with him the corn story. More recently, Mrs. Bouffard reached out to me while I was working for Seeds of Diversity. We chatted, and she ended up mentioning the corn. She then sent me some seeds by the mail. We had a good first harvest from those seeds and, thanks to that, we can now share this variety with you. Luckily, Antoine has also gifted a few to another one of his friends, René Paquet, who has since carefully kept the envelope. On it, a name: Anita Fournier, from Nicolet. We are looking for this lady (probably deceased by now) or her offsprings. Please let us know if you know her. Please note that some of the seeds have been sent to Seeds of Diversity for preservation. With the hopes that you might also contribute to writing a chapter of this story. For more information, please visit (in French): Antoine d'Avignon (1948-2003), jardinier de la dernière chance" Please send us pictures of your crops and harvests! We will share them! Package: 40 seeds

Determinate.

Plant approximately 1 meter tall. Round fruits with a diameter of approximately 8 cm. Rare tomato variety. Firm flesh with an exquisite taste. All red tomatoes wish they were Plourde.

 

Grown since 1925 in Saint-Alexandre de Kamouraska, Quebec, by Aurélius Plourde and his family. Handed to Jeannot Pelletier and then to René Paquet. The latter cultivated and selected it before introducing it in Seeds of Diversity Catalog. According to the man who saved this Quebec heirloom : « The Plourde is an old beauty who forgot its own identity ».