Thanks,
hmoosek , for digging that up. I thought I’d give a try to copying the text right into this page. It’s not perfect, but this way the descriptions of the beans will be here.
BEAN and PEAS Seeds
All beans are OP(Open Pollinated.) Many are also Heirloom.
When buying the rarer varieties of beans that I sometimes offer, please try to save some to regrow or pass on to others. If you have a rare bean that you don’t plan on growing for awhile, store it in a moisture proof container like a small canning jar in your freezer. (When removing from freezer let come to room temp before opening as to not kill the seed.) With what seems like a blink of an eye, bean varieties disappear. I’ve seen someone searching this year for what was once a commonly grown Lima. It is nowhere to be found.
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Bean varieties grown here and at the farm are organic, grown only with organic fertilizer/compost and no spraying, but they are not certified.
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Another thing to note as I found out some people do not know this~
Most heirloom beans eaten for fresh string beans should be eaten when the pod is plump, but before the pod starts to age. This is called “full.” Meaning, grocery store green beans are modern varieties that are picked to eat before the bean seed really develops. The hull of modern varieties turns tough as the seed develops so they have to be harvest while quite immature. This is not true of most old varieties. Old varieties are meant to be eaten with bean seeds starting to develop in them. They are so tasty that way! I’m betting they have a much better nutritional value too.
To not junk up the page with too many out of stocks, I have made a
Bean Variety Reference Page, Click Here, of previously offered varieties.
POLE Varieties (Phaseolus vulgaris):
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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERABean, pole ‘Anasazi Pole’ aka Aztec Cave aka New Mexico cave(Phaseolus vulgaris) bnAnaP
You will often find seed for the bush form of this bean, but not this version. This rarer version is a true pole bean. They grow well and produce lots of pods every time that I’ve grown them. The green beans tasted good, but have strings. This bean though is known for being a great dried shelled bean.
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Anellino Giallo (Wax Shrimp) bnAneG
This variety is from Italy. The pods start off green, and as they fill out with developing bean seed they become yellow. Though very plump, the pods are tender and stringless. They get called shrimp beans because of the curled shape of the bean pods. And they get called wax because back before electricity everyone used candles and wax without dyes is a pale yellow color and wax was a descriptor for light yellow. So you have wax beans and Hungarian Wax peppers.
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Aunt Doll bnAunD
This an heirloom from TN and it should be more well known.The pods are huge, up to 12″, and flat. The beans are large and light tan with spotting. Reading a description from another site, it says that this was a good one for Leather Britches which is an old green bean preservation method before electricity.
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Blue Greasy Grit bnBGG
I grew this one about 10 years ago and said I better grow it again before the seed go bad. This is a thin podded green greasy. I thought I had info and a pod pic on this one in my reference page, but I was mistaken. Very productive when happy.
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beanbruce2Bean ‘Bruce‘ bnBru
This is a heirloom fall/October bean from Kentucky that I received in trade while in Berea from Neil H. Here’s what he has passed along to me, “from Bruce Coleman of Raccoon Ky in Pike county. It reaches up to 8 foot tall and is very blight tolerate. It bears well and we find the beans can great. I’m unsure how many years Bruce grew the bean, but it was one of his favorites right up until his passing.” The flat beans start off green with faint red markings and as the beans age the become red and white. Fall beans are know to be good for shelling/dried beans. They often are good as a regular green bean too.
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Bean ‘Cherokee Trail of Tears‘ pole bnCTOT
I grew this one back a few years ago, and was quite happy with it. The vines were good producers of purple podded beans. When young, if I remember correctly, they were stringless, but strings developed pretty quick once the seeds started to grow. Though I only ate them as green beans, they are supposed to be a good dry bean too. I had no problem collecting lots of dry seed from the vines for seed saving.
The name of this bean come from the a very sad time in American history when the Cherokee were moved by the US government from their Eastern homeland to a territory west of the Mississippi. To read a bit more, Click Here. As with many people in olden days when they moved by choice or force, one thing they brought with them was seed, and this variety came from a family who had survived the relocation.
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‘Climbing French‘ bnClFr
This heirloom variety was once very popular. It has a few alternate names including ‘Climbing Canadian Wonder’ and ‘Tender and True’. In the book ‘Beans of New York’ from 1931 (which I’m glad I have a copy of being this bean is hard to find info from google as all climbing french type beans come up) it says, “It is probably the most widely grown climbing French bean grown in England.” So with that and the Canadian name, it is one for cooler climates for sure. It is noted as a short climber to 4 1/2′ so some might say a half runner but I’ll keep it here. It has lilac flowers and the beans are stringless. In my copy of Vilmorin’s ‘The Vegetable Garden’ it says of Tender and True – “an excellent variety and very prolific.”
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Dolloff bnDol
The dried beans of this one have an appearance of a Lima as they are so wide, but they are P. vulgaris. This one originates from Vermont so it is a good one for shorter seasons. After reading up some, it seems they may be the same/very similar to ‘Golden Lima’ (not a Lima.) It was one of the beans planted late in a big pots and did well. I expect it would be excellent in the ground. (photo to come)
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Eddie Sim’s Traveling bnEST
I can’t find any info on the bean! I had the seeds for awhile and decided I should grow them. It is a cut short type white seed green bean. They did fairly well in a not so great year. In a good year, I would think they would be fantastic.
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beanetowahEtowah bnEtow
Information from my friend Tony West who owns the Appalachian Heirloom Plant Farm~ “Overhill Cherokee bean, still somewhat common in eastern Tennessee today. Once was sold commercially by the Hastings Seed Company. This was sold by itself and also sold in a bean and corn seed blend, the corn being white Hickory King.” The purple stemmed plants got loaded with these fairly slender green beans with a purple overlay, and were quick to mature to a dried bean. Good for those in short season areas. A customer that lives in Etowah, TN told me that Etowah means Muddy Waters.
Grew again this year, and the plants were the healthiest of all the varieties grown. They made a very good sized second crop, not enough time to make seeds for drying here, but a lot of green beans to eat. Once the seeds start to plump there are strings.
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Greasy, White Simpson bnGWS
This white seeded variety of greasy bean was just loaded with pods as you can see from the photo (click to enlarge.) They were pretty fast to mature too. I had so many dry seeds to shell, I actually cooked some up for soup, and they are excellent, creamy but held together, reminds me of ‘Great Northern’.
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BeanGreyEyedGreasyRunnerGrey Eyed Greasy Runner bnGEGR
As you can see, this is a beautiful bean. I got these beans at the seed swap in Berea, KY a few years ago. They caught my eye. Why it isn’t more well known, I don’t know, but it should be. I tried to find info on the internet and got no hits, so it really is rare. It is a good grower and makes lots of pods. Runner is in the name, but it is a normal pole bean, not a half runner and not a scarlet runner type.
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Headrick Greasy Cut Short bnHGCS
This bean did extremely well this year (2019) despite it being a bad growing season for me. The pods are about 4″ and the seeds are small brown with darker speckles. The story behind this one is it was found in an abandoned house in Harlan County, KY by a Tony Headrick.
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Herrenbohnli (Gentlemen’s Little Bean) bnHerr
I saw the seeds of this variety, and I had to have them! I’m surprised it isn’t more well known. The seeds are so small and a pinky tan color. The plants produce gobs of short pods almost as if the seeds say I know I’m tiny, but I’ll show you what I can do. Being short pods no cutting require for cooking, and they are stringless.
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Bean ‘Ideal Market’ bnIdM
This bean is listed in my ‘Beans of NY’ book from 1931 as ‘Ideal Market’ syns. ‘Black Creaseback’. It says it was originally introduced in 1914 by Van Antwerp’s Seed Store in Mobile, AL. A local farmer has notices a single plant of in a planting of ‘White Creaseback.’ It had black seeds. When planted the next year it came true with the black seed again. In 1924 it was reintroduced by another seed company, Chris Reuter Seed Co., as ‘Reuter’s Ideal Market’. That name became more well known. At the time of pubishing it is said that this variety was gaining in popularity as a valuable early and productive small-podded pole bean…fully a week ahead of any other pole bean. This is a shorter pole bean so that may be why? They are stringless.
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bean juanita smithbean juanita smithJuanita Smith bnJuSm
I’m glad I grew this one as it is so different. I though the little beans were neat looking, gray with the black speckling when I got them at the swap in Berea, KY. I had no idea they would be so unusual when growing them. The pods as you can see in the pic are a green that turn to a red, and as the seed mature they turn a very dark purple. Once the pods are dry, they are black.
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beankentuckywonderBean ‘Kentucky Wonder’ bnKW
This is a very popular old heirloom. The green beans are long and stringless, loved by many. In my copy of Vilmorin’s The Vegetable Garden from the late 1800’s I have found out that this bean used also be called ‘Old Homestead’ and ‘Seek-no-Further’.
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beanlazywifegreasybean lazy wife greasy‘Lazy Wife Greasy‘ bnLWG
These are the fattest greasy pods I’ve ever seen! The bean seeds themselves are large, white, and cut-short. Cut-short refers to when bean seeds look like the ends have been chopped off so they look like chiclets. Greasy refers to the pods being hairless so they have a shiny greasy look to them instead of the matte appearance of regular green beans. Very good producer. It is originally from Madison Co, NC.
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beanlazywifeOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA‘Lazy Wife’ pole bnLazW
This heirloom is know to be an old stringless variety. Many old varieties as you may know have to be de-stringed before cooking and of course this one was easier on the cook. *UPDATE!! The rest of the description has been changed because of new information~ I was made aware that the heirloom beans called Lazy HOUSEwife are in fact not the same as the old bean named Lazy Wife. Both bean seeds are white, but The Lazy Wife bean would be plumper and more rounded where as Lazy Housewife is more elongated. See the photo to the right for ID purposes. I do not know if they are related to each other or not at this time. The original seems to be much rarer, and when the newer one arose, I’m not sure, but in my Beans of NY book from 1931, the original Lazy Wife is photographed so it had to be sometime after then.
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Lewis County Fall bnLCF
These are the largest beans I’ve seen called a fall type. I obtained these seeds a few years ago at the seed swap in Berea, KY, and I grew them and only got a couple to germinate so I saved seed and regrew last year and then the deer came! So I regrew again this year, third time’s a charm, and I got a good crop. The pic I took of the green bean is before they start to plump up. The internet has no info on the bean so it is a rare one. I think it will be very well liked by many a bean grower.
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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA‘Mayflower‘ aka ‘Amish Knuttle’ bnMay
This is a bean that has been around for a long time probably from the 1700’s. It goes by many other names including Red Nightfall and Red Speckled Cutshort. Those two names are listed in Vimorin’s Vegetable Garden from the 1800’s, but it seems to be better known by Mayflower these days. I’ve seen it written that it came with the Mayflower, but I find that history suspect. It is known to have been grown by the Amish for a very long time. In any case, this is obviously a well loved bean having such a long history.
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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERABean ‘Melungeon‘ bnMelu
This is a fat green bean. Unfortunately, I didn’t take a pic of the pods. The seeds are light with dark purple speckled in the same manner as Turkey Craw or Mayflower beans. It seems to be a pretty rare one. I picked up seeds for these from my beany friend Frank Barnett when I was in KY at the heirloom seed swap a few years ago. They grow great and are prolific for eating, but for seed savers in short season area, getting seed to save in large quantities may be an issue.
The Melungeon people’s history is fascinating. I first heard of them watching a show on PBS. I’m not sure if it was on a show or reading an article that historians weren’t sure when the name came from. Being of Italian decent, I remember the old derogatory term for black people that is rare to hear nowadays pronounced moo-lan-john which is a slang of melanzana meaning eggplant and that is so similar Melungeon that I can’t think they are not related. But I am not a historian, just a history lover.
From what I can gather, not much info out there, but this bean is from Scott Co., VA. according to this Site (page 98,) Click Here. Frank Barnett though says the bean came from Wise Co., VA which is close by. It is quite likely that it traveled from one county to the other.
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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMr. Tung bnMrT
This bean came to me via a garden friend, Annette in Canada. She noted that this bean came to Canada with a Chinese immigrant, Mr. Tung, over 100 years ago. The bean pods are long (Click pic to see whole pod) and are produced in very good quantity. The bean seed is long and a grey brown, not very attractive, so you know it is a good plant when people save beans that aren’t so pretty. Click Here for a very good page from Canada with lots more info.
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Myrtle Allen bnMyrA
This a small white seeds variety that I can find no info for! It was early to mature so this would be a good one for the north.
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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA‘Ojo de Cabra’ (Tarahumara Ojo de Cabra aka Goat’s Eye aka Eye of the Goat) bnODC
This bean originally comes from the Tarahumara Native Americans from the northwest region of Mexico. The beans can be used as a green bean or as a shelled cooking bean. It is quick to make beans and productive.
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Bean ‘Purple Podded Pole’ bnPPP
This pole bean is a favorite of many. It is productive and makes deep purple easy to find stringless bean pods. From what I’ve read, they were discovered in the 1930’s in an Ozark garden by the seedman Henry Field. As with all purple beans, the color disappears once cooked. Photo courtesy of Blane H. of MS.
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Bean ‘Rattlesnake’ bnRatt
This well known popular heirloom pole has long green pods streaked with purple which makes for easy picking. They are stringless while young before the seeds develop. A good one to grow if you’ve got kids. Photo courtesy of customer Iris P.H.
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Red Eye Fall bnREG
This is a rare bean. I think after people try it, it will become quite popular. The beans are incredibly tasty. I don’t think I’ve had better. They have no strings when plump which the way I like to eat beans. So they are a snap to prepare. They also mature quickly which is great for everyone to the north.
Originally these were named ‘Red Eye Greasy’. After having gone to the Oct. seed swap at the Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Center Berea, KY a few yeas back, I found out that these are NOT greasy beans. They are Fall aka October beans. Bill Best and I discussed the beans and one that he has that is very similar. The red marking is not as strong on his. His came from Tennessee. This bean came to me via my forum friend Keith. He received them from a lady named Kathy who was in TN. Unfortunately, her old email does not work. (If you are out there Kathy, please contact us.) The pods are smoother and not tacky like some beans and we figure that is why greasy was attached to the name.
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Bean ‘Seneca Speckled Egg‘ bnSSE
This is a really neat bean. As the pods plump up they get striped with dark purple and the mottling becomes increasingly stronger as the pods age. The bean seeds are small and spotted and do resemble birds eggs. It is a heavy producer of bean pods. The only downfall of this bean is it is late to fully mature, Sept-Oct depending on the year. So seed savers in short season area may have trouble with seed collection. Sometimes Bird is part of the name you will see when people mention this variety.
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bean spanglerpoleSpangler Pole bnSpPo
This variety has very fat green beans. They are still good for a green bean at stage pictured. It is a great bean, but not good for northern short season growers for seed saving. Bill Best says this is a cornfield type bean.
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beanTNgreasyOLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERABean ‘Tennessee Greasy Mix’ bnTGM
This crazy mix came from seeds from Sand Hill Preservation. I planted only the small brown speckled seed (Click on right pic to see it, and the other 3 colors.) and got a mix of four different types of beans. I also got the dark blue beans which came from green pods with a purple overlay, very pretty. Then I got the pretty lighter off white specked with black beans and lastly the olive green hued beans. All very neat in their own right. I’ve never seen anything like this. Glen from Sand Hill states, “I’ve tried for over 10 years to segregate this. I’ve concluded that it is a true mixture. Seeds are various colors as well as having pods of various shapes and textures. Beans can be used both in the green snap stage and dried for soup. Ornamental and colorful.” After discussing this on a bean forum, there is thoughts that it is not stable because of a gene that may be involved, but it could become more consistent with more grow outs. For the adventurous. This year (2017) I got mostly black and speckled beans. This should be called Tennessee Crazy Mix, lol.
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Bean ‘Turkey Craw’ aka ‘Turkey Gizzard’ bnTurC
This is an old Kentucky bean. It supposedly was originally found in gizzard of a turkey. Whether the story is true or not, it is a well loved bean. Very productive. Good for canning.
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Uncle Steve’s Italian bnUSI
I received these from my beany friend Keith some time ago. He got these beans from his Uncle Steve, hence the name. They are a purple striped green bean with a bit of curve to the pods. When the seeds develop the purple striping gets pronounced on a white back ground and they look cool. Excellent bean.
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HALF RUNNER varieties (Phaseolus vulgaris):
Bean ‘Pink Half Runner’ aka ‘Red Peanut’ aka ‘Old Joe Clark’ bnPinkHR
This bean has obviously been around for a long time with so many names, and it is liked by many people. It can be used as green bean or shelling bean. The pods turn red as they mature. Half-runners will not grow as large as poles, but still need some support.
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‘State Half Runner‘ bnStHR
This heirloom has tasty green beans that are good for fresh eating or canning.
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Bean ‘Tuscarora Bread’ bnTuscB
This rare bean has a special story with it. Though I got them elsewhere, they originally came from Norton Rickard an elder of the Tuscarora Nation. Norton loved gardening and when retired from work, he pursued a dream of gardening full time. He sold produce at a stand on his property. I was lucky enough to meet him and have a long talk about gardening, seed saving, and Tuscarora history. He told me a lot of history, and I was honored to hear all he had to say. He was very instrumental in also keeping the Tuscarora Corn from going extinct, Click Here for that story. The bread bean came from an elder Tuscarora woman in NY down near the PA border over 50 years ago when he was teen. The lady gave the beans to his older brother and told him they were special bread beans, to grow the beans, and not let them die off. So his brother grew them and eventually Norton did.
The beans are a cooking bean. They can be used in any bean dish like chili, but they are specifically used by the Tuscaroras for bean bread. Bean Bread has been a staple of the Tuscarora for a long time. I found recipes for Cherokee bean bread online. To see one of the recipes Click Here. You can also find many other variations by googling Cherokee Bean Bread Recipe. The bread is like the Tuscarora bread which makes sense since Norton taught me that the Tuscarora once lived near the Cherokee before they moved north and joined the Iroquois nations. My friend, the owner of Good Mind Seeds, sent me a video of the making of Seneca cornbread which he says is more closely representative of the Tuscarora recipes. It is a great video as it is in the Seneca Language and English. CLICK HERE to watch it.
I asked Norton what to call the bean, and he said, “Tuscarora Bread Bean.” I told him I would do that then. He unfortunately passed away shortly after I met him. I would of love to have known him better. I was told this bean is a bush bean, but the plants grew up my rabbit fencing so it is better described as a half runner.
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BUSH varieties (Phaseolus vulgaris):
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA‘Black Turtle‘ bnBTu
This is the very well known cooking bean of black bean soup, rice and beans, and other dishes from Latin America and the Caribbean. These seeds were grown by Arden Farm (Certified Organic) separate from my bean plants so I can’t comment directly on their growth, but they had a good harvest, so it seems they are easy to grow.
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‘Cherokee Wax‘ bnCWax
This is a super popular yellow bean from the late 1940’s. The color is a nice strong gold. It is also early to produce and stringless. AAS winner in 1948.
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Coban Filet bnCobF
I grew these this year as they have small long seed, and I thought it would produce something interesting. I had no idea they were very dwarf plants so there they were in the field with poles looking very silly. The plants didn’t even reach a foot I would say, but they were loaded up with thin haricot vert type beans. Being so dwarf they would work well in pots. I tried to find out more info on the bean. All I could find was noted from High Mown Seed Co. saying they did exceptionally well in their bean trials a few years back and they offered them for seed, but after that nothing.
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dragontonguelindsey‘Dragon Tongue’ aka ‘Dragon Langerie’ and ‘Merveille de Piemonte’ bnDrT
This is a popular heirloom variety of Dutch origin. Many gardeners will tell you this is a favorite. It is a flat podded wax bean with purple streaking. It is stringless. Bucket photo courtesy of a generous customer.
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Bean ‘Flageolet‘ bnFlag
This is a French cooking bean. I first learned of this bean through a very knowledgeable bean grower who loves them. It is unusual in it coloration being light green. They can be fresh shelled for you favorite bean soup, casserole, etc. or dried. The flavor is excellent and they have a nice creamy texture.
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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAHutterite Soup bnHutS
This old heirloom is loved for its creamy texture. This is a vigorous bush and may act like a half-runner for some people. Being originally from northern Europe and then the upper parts of the US and Canada, this is a good one for short season growers..
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Bean ‘Petite Filet‘ bnPeF
When you think of the small French green beans often called Haricot Vert, these are those type of beans. If you buy them at the grocery store, you know know they cost quite a bit more than the regular green beans. So if you love them, not only will you save money, but they will taste even better coming from your own garden. These are small bush beans so plant accordingly in the garden or plant in pots.
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Bean ‘Purple Queen’ bnPQ
This bean makes beautiful dark purple pods that are easy to spot and make for an attractive plant. A zone 5 NYS gardener wrote, “I like Purple Queen best so far for a purple snap bush bean. I like them better than Royal Burgundy/Purple. They are more prolific and have good flavor.” As with all purple beans, the color disappears once cooked.
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Bean ‘Red Swan‘ bnRSw
This is a new bean cultivar that is quite interesting. It is a cross between a pinto and a purple snap bean, and the result is a pretty red hued, flat bean. It is stringless. It was bred by the late Robert Lobitz, a long tine SSE member, from Minnesota.
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‘Romano Gold‘ bnRomG
By customer request~ This is a yellow/wax wide flat Italian type bean. It is productive small bush type.
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Bean ‘Tendergreen’ bnTenG
This is a popular stringless green bush bean. They can and freeze well from what I’ve read. AAS winner 1933.
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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA‘Tiger’s Eye‘ aka ‘Pepa de Zapallo’ bnTEy
This a unusual color bean seed being an earthy yellow shade with darker maroon stripes, and it will make occasional maroon with yellow spots seeds. It is know to be a good cooking/shelled bean with a great creamy texture. It can send up short runners so some small support or extra space should be given. Originally from South America.
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FAVA varieties (Vicia faba):
‘Broad Windsor’ favBWin
This is a popular heirloom English variety. This is a light green seeded variety. Unlike regular beans Favas do well with cool weather and they grow bushy, to around 3-4′ and would do best with some kind of support.
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LIMA/BUTTER Varieties (Phaseolus lunatus):
Alabama Black Eye Butterbean limaABEB
This is a fairly rare climbing lima. When fresh shelled they are a greenish white with a dark eye but left to dry, they are a creamy white with a black eye. To see other pics on Dave’s Garden, Click Here. This needs a hot summer to do well so not recommended for the north for seed saving for sure.
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‘Christmas‘, pole limaChr
By customer request~ This is a big old heirloom Lima. The beans are maroon and white. They are nutty in flavor and creamy in texture. This variety is know by many names including ‘Fagioli del Papa'(Pope’s beans,) ‘Large Speckled Calico’,’Giant Butter’, and ‘Giant Florida Pole’
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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA‘Dixie Speckled Butterpea’, bush limaDSB
This is a small lima or as often called down south, butter pea. It is a favorite variety of many gardeners. The bushes are small and after the first harvest, they can re-bloom and set beans again. They do well here, and they do well in pots.
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‘Jackson Wonder Butterbean’, bush limaJWB
This variety originally from Georgia was first introduced 1888. The beans when shelled are tan with dark purple markings. They turn reddish brown when cooked. The will do well up north.
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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAburpeesfarmannua1891watl_0033burpeeswillowleafbean1892‘Willow Leaf‘ pole Lima bnWil
This heirloom from the 1800’s is an attractive growing plant. The leaves are more lance shaped than normally seen hence the willow name. The name originally included Burpee’s. As to why it was dropped, I’m not sure. Many other varieties of vegetables and flowers still carry names signifying they came from them. The white limas are on the smaller side what many would consider a butterbean. It grows well down south for sure. Up north, it may be a challenge though needing about 85 warm days to produce. On the south side of a building when it stay hotter may be the way to experiment with it. The name originally was Burpee’s Willow Leaf. The text pic (click to enlarge) is from 1891 when Burpee first introduced it. The color pic is from thew 1892 catalog. As to why Burpee’s was dropped from the name, I’m not sure. Many other varieties of vegetables and flowers still carry names signifying they came from them.
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COWPEAS aka SOUTHERN PEAS (Vigna unguiculata):
Blue Goose cowBGo
Every year I try things out that might not do too well up here, and I’m glad I do because sometimes things produce just fine. Blue Goose is one of those. It did well in a year that was pretty mild up here. Tohono O’Odam which I also grew this year didn’t fair as well. It started producing too late. Anyway, Blue Goose is a light gray with a fine darker speckle to them. (Photo of seed still to come.)
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‘Colossus‘ cowCol
This Southern Pea was developed by the South Carolina Agricultural Experimental Station and Clemson University in 1971. It was bred for disease resistance. The peas are light brown and a bigger than some other varieties.
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‘Mississippi Purple‘ cowMPu
This is a newer (1976) large seeded brown crowder type cowpea. It was bred like the Top Pick to be bushy and produce pods above the foliage and also to be disease resistant to some things that may happen in a southern garden.
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rice pea‘Rice Pea‘ aka ‘Rice’ cwRice
The seeds of this variety are so cute, maybe that doesn’t sound right, lol. They are tiny and a pale ecru color, and when I saw them, I had to grow them. The seed may be small, but the pods are still long and contain many seeds. The small bushes are easy to grow even up north, very productive. If the plants get near something to vine up, they will make short runners. They do well in pots/buckets.
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‘Top Pick Pinkeye Purple Hull‘ cwTPPPH
I am by no means an expert on cowpeas so I picked this variety based on the video on YouTube called “How to Grow Purple Hull Peas” as it was the recommended variety. I have since found out it is a favorite of many!
The pods are set above the foliage which makes them easy to see and pick hence the addition of Top Pick to the name as there are other Pink Eye Purple Hulls out there.
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EDAMAME/SOY Varieties (Glycine max):
Soybean/Edamame ‘Beer Friend’ bnSoyBF
By customer suggestion ~ This variety’s name come from the fact that in Japan, they are a bar snack as peanuts are here. We seem to use them more in recipes here, but I do like to cook soybeans in the pod, salt them, and then eat them out of the pods. No matter what you do with them, this seems to be a good variety to grow. These plants grow to about 3′.
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Soybean/Edamame ‘Black’ soyBla
These are pretty black skinned soybeans. They are smaller in size than Beer Friend (I know I have to take a pic) so they are good for sprouts. Being so dark skinned I’m going to assume they are high in antioxidants.
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Soybean/Edamame ‘Envy‘ soyEnv
This is a great edamame variety for short season areas. well for long season too, but it was developed by the well known plant breeder late Professor Elwyn Meader, Univ. of New Hampshire. Like most soy beans, plants grow to about 2′.
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ASIAN varieties:
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Bean, Asparagus aka Yard Long, Black Seeded (Vigna unguiculata sesquipedalis) bnAspBS
I received plants from a friend this year. Having run out of garden space, I grew the beans in 5 gallon buckets on the driveway. They did great! I think for the northern part of the country, this may be the way to go for those heat loving varieties of the Vigna genus that can be finicky for us.
This cultivar of Asparagus bean has light green pods with a pink tip and the dried seed is black. Some people think they taste like a bean asparagus cross hence the name, but I just taste bean. The Yard Long name is of course from the amazing length of the pods. Sometimes they get quite big as in the photo to the right. In general thought they average a bit over a foot long. Produces long vines like a pole bean.
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Asparagus aka Yard Long, Red Seeded (Vigna unguiculata sesquipedalis) bnAsp
This popular variety also produces very long thin green pods without strings and looks like the photos shown for the black seeded cultivar above.. Some think it tastes like a bean asparagus cross hence the name, but I just taste bean. The Yard Long name is of course from the amazing length of the pods. Sometimes they get quite big as in the photo to the right. In general thought they average a bit over a foot long. Produces long vines like a pole bean. Great for areas with hot summers, but will still do well up north. Dry seeds are red.
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Winged Bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) bnWing
This really cool bean family plant has unusually shaped pods with wavy edges hence the winged name. Being an old vegetable it does have many other names like dragon, four angled, princess, goa bean, and probably a few more that I have not seen. The flowers are a pretty light lavender blue. All parts of this plant are used in recipes. It is a climber. This is a Day Neutral variety so no worried about develping pods before the weather gets cold up north.
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SCARLET RUNNER varieties (Phaseolus coccineus):
‘Insuk’s Wang Kong’ bnIWK
I received this bean from my GW forum friend Jim W. It is an excellent hot weather runner bean. It will not make beans when it is in the 90’s but it will look good and bloom as is shown in my Aug. 11 photo. It is also a hummingbird attractor! I did not know this until one day a hummer and and I scared each other. The origins of this bean are in Korea where Jim’s wife, Insuk, originally came from. Wang Kong means King Bean in Korean. The beautiful shelled beans vary from solid lavender to solid black and an occasional solid white.
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‘Painted Lady’ bnPLad
This bi-color version of scarlet runner is very pretty and always sought after. The tops are an orange red and the bottoms are white. To see photos on Dave’s Garden, Click Here.
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SCARLET RUNNER BEAN bnSRun
This traditional vine is as at home in the flower garden as it is in the veggie garden. The blooms are a bright hot red. It is a hummingbird attractor. So it is more often grown here in the US as an ornamental, but in other places like the UK, it is grown for the edible beans. I cooked the green beans this past year, and they taste like regular green beans. To me they were ok, but to a friend that grew them, she just loved the green beans. As I’ve said before everyone has their own tastes, and you have to try to know. The dried beans are quite large like big Limas.
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OTHER Ornamental Beans:
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Canavalia gladiata (SWORD BEAN)
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERACanavalia gladiata (SWORD BEAN) bnSword
I became enamored with these Jack and the Bean Stalk type beans after seeing Allan Armitage talk about about them this winter at the Plant WNY winter conference. He gave out beans, and I got one, but I lost the darn thing, lol. So I actually bought some wholesale, and I’m offering the extras that I do not plant here. The plants are quick to grow (I started them in pots inside to get a head start) and get quite large probably over 10 feet easy so they need a large support. The flowers are white-pink and the pods are quite large as are beans in them. It is quite ornamental. There’s a lot of conflicting info about their edibility. When the pots are young, they seem to be edible after cooking. Beyond that point they need special preparation so do not consume unless you know what you are doing. This year (2018) I have a white seeded variety.
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Dolichos lablab (HYACINTH BEAN VINE) HBVine
This purple stemmed twining vine has scented lavender flowers that look similar to sweet peas. Another plus to the is vine is the seed pods are a beautiful purple giving them ornamental interest. The bean pods are eaten in Asian countries. There seems to be conflicting report of toxicity. Cooked young fresh pods are fine. Dried seed is potentially hazardous having high levels of cyanogenic glucosides, and should not be eaten unless having been properly prepared. They need to be boiled with a couple changes of water, so unless you know what you are doing stick to eating cooked young fresh pods.
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PEAS:
alaskapeaPea ‘Alaska’ aka ‘Earliest of All’ (Pisum sativum) peaAla
This heirloom is from the early 1880’s. From what I’ve read, the original English name was ‘Earliest of All’ which is a fine name, but it got marketed as ‘Alaska’ here in the States and ‘Alaska’ stuck. This variety grows to about 3′ tall and is a good canning and soup type.
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.OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAPea ‘Blue Podded‘ aka ‘Blauwschokkers‘ (Pisum sativum) peaBP
This is a really neat variety to grow. The pods are a dark dusky purple-blue instead of the normal green. I grew them a few years ago and they grew well here. The pic I took is obviously from before they filled out. They are a climbing variety, 4-6′ tall. This variety is not really meant for fresh eating, but I gave some to a local garden for children and they found the undeveloped flat pods were a good snow pea substitute and were used like a chip to dip in hummus. Full, the hulls are tough like other peas, and the peas themselves have a good creamy flavor, but not as sweet at regular. It is a soup pea so its suppose to be starchier instead of super sweet.
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‘Golden Sweet‘ Snow Pea peaGSw
This is a great unusual variety. The pods are a good yellow color and the blossoms are pretty too so it is very ornamental besides being tasty. This is a vining variety to about 6′.
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Pea ‘Green Arrow’ (Pisum sativum) peaGrA
This pea is the favorite of a legume expert friend of mine (Zeedman/Chris from WI) who has grown many varieties. I’ve read lots of favorable reports from other too. Plants grow 2-2 1/2 feet tall. Originally from England.
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Pea ‘Tall Telephone’ aka ‘Alderman’ (Pisum sativum) peaTT
I’m partial to this variety since I’ve been growing it a long time. It get taller than many other varieties so I grow it along my fences in the flower borders. Once they are done, other vines like morning glories have worked their way up the fence to replace them. Of course they are equally fine growing in the vegetable garden. If you’ve never grown peas, you really should. They are so good. I end up not having many make it into the house because I love eating them out in the garden.
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Pea ‘Lincoln’ peaLin
This variety is said to be from 1908, but I found a reference to a new variety called Lincoln Green in my 1865 Field and Garden Vegetables of America. And I found another reference that Lincoln had been called Homesteader. As noted above with Alaska this is very plausible to have a pea’s name changed for the American market. I do know it was a highly recommend variety by the teens of the 1900’s so it gained popularity quick if it was releases in 1908. There was for good reason that as the plants have some heat tolerance and the peas are very sweet.
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Pea, Snow ‘Dwarf Grey Sugar’ ( Pisum sativum var. saccharatum) peaDGS
I choose this variety since it seems to be a garden favorite of many. I’m not sure why this it is called dwarf though when it grows 2 -2 1/2′ tall, and there are shorter varieties out there. There must of been a taller Gray Sugar at one time. Anyway, I love snow peas in stir fry. You don’t really need to even cook them, just toss them in at the end to warm them up. Like regular peas, these grow well in cooler weather.
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Pea, Sugar Snap ‘Super Sugar Snap’ peaSSS
This variety is a newer version of ‘Sugar Snap’ and by all accounts is a better version with more disease resistance. I have received many favorable review from customers for this variety and will stick with it. Sugar snap type peas are really sweet. They are easy to deal with since the whole pod is edible. The vines grow to about 5′ so they need support. As with regular peas, these are a cool season crop.
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