Walter Brandis Pinto Bean is a semi-vining heirloom grown continuously since 1945 at a family farm outside Flagstaff, Arizona, in the high desert. Unlike many beans that demand trellises, this variety will happily sprawl along the ground in field settings or send out runners if given something to climb, giving you flexibility in how you garden it. It's a genuinely productive plant with deep roots in regional agricultural history, saved and stewarded by the Brandis family for nearly 80 years and now preserved through Native Seeds/SEARCH's Seed Bank Collection.
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This high desert pinto has been continuously grown since 1945 by the Brandis family near Flagstaff, making it a living link to regional farming heritage. Its semi-vining habit means it adapts to whatever space you have: let it ramble across the ground or provide support for runners. The plant rewards gardeners with exceptional productivity, a trait that speaks to why the Brandis family kept saving seeds through the generations.
Pinto beans are dried beans, traditionally used in refried beans, bean soups, stews, and as a protein-rich staple in Southwest and Mexican cuisines. You'll harvest the mature, fully dried pods and shell out the beans for storage and cooking.
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Direct sow Walter Brandis Pinto Beans into the garden after the last frost date, when soil temperatures reach 60-75°F. Plant seeds 4 inches apart in rows spaced 18 inches apart.
Allow pods to mature fully on the plant until they dry and turn brown. The beans inside will rattle slightly when fully dry. Harvest the entire dried pod, then shell the beans by hand and store them dry.
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“Walter Brandis began growing this pinto bean on his family farm outside Flagstaff around 1945, at the start of what would become a multigenerational stewardship of this variety. For more than three-quarters of a century, the Brandis family saved seeds year after year, maintaining the bean's character through careful selection and replanting. That continuity of seed saving is what makes this bean special: it's not a modern breeding achievement or a recently recovered heirloom, but an actively tended family variety that has never left the hands of those who cultivated it. Native Seeds/SEARCH brought the Walter Brandis Pinto into their Seed Bank Collection to ensure its survival beyond the family farm, recognizing that such varieties represent irreplaceable agricultural knowledge and adaptation to specific regions.”