Blue Jay
(Bush) A dwarf snap bean with purple striped green pods. Blue Jay originated in 1977, as a chance seedling in the garden of Russell Crow of Illinois. (BC BE S, Seeds of Diversity, 2024) Blue Jay’s seed parents are Comtesse de Chambord and an unknown variety.
“Found as chance seedling by Illinois grower Russell Crow in 1977 and it bred true.” (BC BE S, Seeds of Diversity, 2024)
Days to Maturity:
History
There are two variations of the Comtesse de Chambord. The more populous variation has small narrow white seeds. The second variation (Comtesse de Chambord BN226 in the SSE), and seed mother of Blue Jay, has slight larger and stouter white seeds. As mentioned by Russ Crow,
“I reacquired the bean (photo on the left) from Two Wings farm in 2012, but the seed seemed smaller than I recalled in the ’80’s I had donated seed (picture above) to Seed Savers Exchange that was the seed mother of Blue Jay. Then during winter 2013 I requested from my donations this same version of this bean. When the seed arrived. Low, and behold a bit larger white seed the way I had remembered Blue Jay’s seed mother.” (Russell Crow, A Bean Collectors Window 1)
In the late 1990’s Shirley began to steward the variety Blue Jay, when it disappeared from the Canadian seed market. Her original seeds were purchased from Upper Canada Seeds.
In her 2023 listing Shirley Bellows shared that, “You must save seed from all variations for genetic diversity. It also makes an excellent bean for dried use as well. I have maintained this variety since the late 1990’s.” (BC BE S, Seeds of Diversity)
These 2010 Seeds of Diversity articles by Shirley Bellows recount the near extinction and success story of the Blue Jay bean, and a comparison with Comtesse de Chambord:
 Pg 1, ‘The Blue Jay Bean: A Success Story’, Seeds of Diversity, Shirley Bellows, 2010. |  Pg 2, ‘The Blue Jay Bean: A Success Story’, Seeds of Diversity, Shirley Bellows, 2010. |
 Pg 1, ‘Blue Jay versus the Comtesse de Chambord. And the Winner Is …’, Seeds of Diversity, Shirley Bellows, 2010. |  Pg 2, ‘Blue Jay versus the Comtesse de Chambord. And the Winner Is …’, Seeds of Diversity, Shirley Bellows, 2010. |
Resources
Russell Crow’s website shares the history of the Blue Jay cultivar.