African Cave

Bush/Dry. Productive plants grow without runners. Blossom white. Plants grow to about 18 to 20 inches tall. Round green pods look very much like a snap bean. Seeds are brown and white and patterened similar to Jacob's Cattle. Matures first dry pod in about 80 days.

African Premier

Bush/Dry. An early horticultural variety with a pink base color from Kenya Africa. My First encounter with African Premier was in 1978 as one of the beans that John Withee had in his Wanigan collection. Connecticut resident Harmon Poole donated the bean to Withee in 1977. The bean was purchased in Nairobi, Kenya and brought back to the U.S. by Harmon's grandchildren.

Aghstev Ijevan

Pole Dry. Ijevan is a town in Armenia along the Aghstev river. Plants grow to 7 feet producing 6 inch long flat cresent shaped green pods. One of the many beans brought to the U.S. by world traveler and seed explorer Joseph Simcox.

Algarrobo

Bush/Dry. 85 Days to first dry pods which are 4.5 x 1/4 iches. Blossom Cream. Said to be a rare Columbian variety. Looks similar to soldier. Seeds seem a slight bit heavier. This short season variety will begin to produce dry seed in about 85 days. Pods will dry sequentially over a period of about three weeks. Productive upright plants without runners. Acquired this variety from Amy Hawk of Calhan, Colorado who grows her gardens a 6,700 ft. elevation.

Amber Pearl

Bush/Dry. Blossom light pink. 100 days to first dry seeds. Plants are upright in growth without runners. High yielding variety and one of the many bean originals by the late Robert Lobitz of Paynesville, Minnesota. The seedcoat reminds me of a outcross I had in my bean gardens in the 1980's called Pecatonica.

Andromeda

Pole lima. Very productive. Produces lots of pods and beans. A long season bean that can even be successfully grown in southern Canada with an early start in a small pot then transfered to the garden at planting time. Started out as a Ping Zebra cross with another lima in 2014. Several grow outs I believe have proven to me that the lima is stable. Small seeded like Ping Zebra but with the beautiful addition of dark blue or black speckling.

Angel Eye

Bush/Dry. Blossom white. 85 days to first dry pods. Then pods dry sequentally. 18 to 20 inch tall plants are very productive. Another original bean of mine that was named by an exceptional bean grower Jaanes Aalders of Groningen, Netherlands.

Armenian Giant Black

Pole/Snap. Blossom pink. About 115 days for first dry seed. It's name states it's origin. Large snap pods 8 to 10 inches long. Haven't tried it yet but look forward to trialing it as a snap bean one day.

Atwater

Bush/Snap. Blossom pink. True bush form grows without runners. Six inch long pods if allowed to dry for seed will begin drying in about 90 days. A Robert Lobitz original bean named and introduced by him around 1999. Named for Atwater, Minnesota which is located in east central Kandiyohi County along Minnesota highway 12.

Aubrey Deane

Pole/Lima. Pre-1890 family heirloom from Greene County, Virginia. Pods shatter and release beans if left too long on the vine. Very productive. Similar seed coat color and pattern as Snow On The Mountain but earlier.

Bamberger Blaue

Bush/dry. 98 days to first dry pods. Productive robust plants grow upright without runners to 28 inches tall (71 cm). 6.5 inch (16.5 cm) green pods yield 5 to 6 slightly kidney shaped seeds strikingly beautiful especially when harvested new. 9.25 feet (281.94 cm) of row space yielded a pound and a half (680.3 kg) of beans. Often used as a baked bean in Germany. Donor was Astrid Storm Jevenstedt, Germany 2013. The variety was discovered in 1980 at a farmers market in Bamberg in Bavaria.

Barnes Mountain

Pole/Snap/Dry. Traditionally planted in cornfields. Round poded. The bean originates near Barnes Mountain in Estil county Kentucky. Young green pods are delicious and dry beans cook fast.

Beka Brown

Bush/Dry. Very Productive. Dry seed crop begins in about 90 days. Green short rounded pods. Plants said to throw of some tendril like growth. Described in John Withee's Wanigan bean catalog in the 80's as a Canadian bush variety grown for soup and baking. To be grown in 2013.

Berry's Best

Bush/Dry. From the Burt Berrier collection of Canon City, Colorado. Berrier was a farm equipment salesmen in the 1950's. As he made calls on his farmer customers he ocassionaly collected beans from them. This bean would eventually make it's way into John Withee's Wanigan Collection.

Bird Egg

Semi-Runner/Dry. Acquired this bean from Seed Savers Exchange in the early 80's. Given to me on loan from Kent Whealey. Saw the beans description in an older issue of the SSE yearbook then reaquired this bean from that member. When the seed arrived I recognized it as the Bird Egg that I first knew from SSE in the early 80's but since the bean has been traded among SSE members for nearly 3 decades the bean seed and the leaves of the plant now show some differences from Bird Egg #2 which this bean is related too.

Bird Egg #2

Semi-Runner/Dry. 110+ days to first dry pods. Very productive plants 20 inches tall sprawl on the ground, and do not stand upright as they mature. A bean I had originally acquired from Seed Savers Exchange in the early 80's and given to me on loan from Kent Whealey. The bean orignally was called Bird Egg. During the 80's I had filled requests for this bean for members of the Seed Savers Exchange. In early 2013 I acquired the bean again from SSE's Heritage Farm and found that the beans name had been changed to Bird Egg #2.

Bird Egg Blue

Bush/Dry. This bean originated in my garden 1981 and named by me. Has been wonderfully stable ever since it's discovery. Plants are upright in growth without runners. The bean is late in maturity and pushes the season right up to our killing frosts in October here in Northern Illinois. I did not keep a record of every single variety from which each cross came from. It would be an interesting little bit of bean history had I had that information on this variety now. I first introduced this bean in the 1983 SSE yearbook. Now being sold commercially by Heritage Harvest Seeds in Fisher Branch, Manitoba, Canada.

Black And White Goose

Half Runner. Grows to about 5 or 6 feet. Discovered this bean in my garden around 1980 and named by me when I was growing large bean gardens on my 6 acre property just south of Capron, Illinois. The markings on the seed are set wider apart than many beans that have small streaks and speckles I liked the idea of the story of goose beans and decided since it looked slightly like another goose variety. I wanted to get into the goose bean naming business.

Black And White Trout

Bush Dry bean variety. Similar seedcoat pattern as Jacob's Cattle (aka Trout). The darker color doesn't appear to me to be a true black but a purple coloration. Obtained from Amy Hawk (E5 Ranch/Simply Beans) in Calhan, Colorado where she grows her beans at an altitude of about 6,700 feet.

Black Cattle

Bush/Dry. 90 days to first dry pods. Good sized seed with large productive plants. Variety originates in the south of France.

Black Coco

Bush dry variety. Blossom pink. Begins to produce dry pods around 85 days. Lovely nice size rounded bean. Supposedly can be used also as a snap, and shell beans when the seed is still soft and a bit immature. Plants are upright in growth without runners.

Black Hawk

Bush dry. Blossom pink. Productive plants begin to produce dry pods around 90 days. An original bean of and named by the late Robert Lobitz of Paynesville, Minnesota. Robert releasd this bean through the Seed Savers Exchange based in Decorah, Iowa in 1999.

Black Good Mother Stallard

Pole/Dry. Maybe more of a semi or half runner. Found growing among Good Mother Stallard over a decade ago by Debbie Groat of Rhodes, Michigan. She believes this bean is a mutation as the bean has never segregated, but always has grown true to type. Beans are about half the size of Good Mother Stallard, but patterned the same way in black and white.

Black Horse

Bush Dry. Blossom deep pink. Productive bean begins to produce dry pods around 85 days. The remaining pods dry sequentially over a period of about three weeks. Black Horse does not produce as large of a bean as Black Coco but more of them. Began as an outcross from Will Bonsall of Industry, Maine. Will is famous for his Scattered Seed project. I began grow outs of this bean in 2015 and named this bean in 2018. This bean has grown true for three years which is the test for a bean that has become stable and a true breeding type.

Black Nightfall

Semi-Runner/Dry. 100 days to first dry seed. Viney plants can be grown on the ground like a bush bean, but would probably benefit from growing on some support. Very productive of 4 to 5 inch oval green pods that are lightly streaked with purple. 4 to 6 small seeds per pod. Small seeded beans generally make up in volume for what they lack in size of their seeds. When beans becomes mature pods dry down rapidly.

Black Star

Pole Black seeded Lima variety. Medium size seed. Plants begin producing dry pods in about 90 days. Got this one from the folks at Sandhill Preservation Center in Calamus, Iowa.

Black Trout

Bush/Dry. Blossom light pink. 85 days for the beginning of dry seed. Seed is patterned similarly to Jacob's Cattle. Seed to me does not appear to be a true black, but rather purple and white similar to Black And White Trout.

Black Valentine

Bush/Snap. Blossom pink. Hardy and moderately productive. An old and once commercial variety known before 1850. Plants about 12 to 14 inches tall are runnerless, and foliage is rather open. Dark green pods borne high on the plant are large enough for snap beans in about 50 days. Dry seed begins around 75 to 90 days.

Blooming Prairie

Bush. Blossom fushia. Purple poded dry bean. First Dry pods in about 90 days. Plants grow with an upright form and runnerless. This bean is one of the many original varieties of the late Robert Lobitz. Named after Blooming Prairie, Minnesota which is located just slightly southwest of Rochester, Minnesota along Minnesota state route 30. The town lies mostly in Steele County. Owen Bridge of Annapolis Seeds in Nova Scotia declares that Blooming Prairie is one of the most beautiful dry beans he has ever grown.

Blue Jay

Bush/Snap. Blossom pink. 50 days to excellent stringless snaps, 90 days dry. Discovered and named by me in 1977. Found it's seeds among the white seeded 19th century French snap heirloom Comtesse de Chambord. Brought to commercial status in Canada by Bob Wildfong and Shirley Bellows of Seeds Of Diversity Canada. Sold by Mandy's Greenhouse, Andrea Berry's Hope Seeds & Perrenials, plus over 10 other Canadian seed companies. First company to sell this bean was Fox Hollow in Pennsylvania in the mid 1990's. Also sold now by the Secret Seed Cartel in France.

Blue Shaxamaxon

Pole. Pods turn dark purple when dry. Native variety grown by the Seneca people.

Bobolink

Pole/dry. 95 days to dry seed. Also known as "Beautiful". May possibly be an old time bean from the state of Maine. Several Seed Savers Exchange members list their source of the bean from Maine, and John Withee of Wanigan Associates back in the 1970's listed his source as being from Bowdoin, Maine.

Bomba

Bush variety. Dry bean from the Ukraine. Did some bean trading and acquired this one from Joseph Simcox (The Botanical Explorer). To be grown in 2014.

Bogen

Pole Dry. Planted here in late May or early June. Bogen will start producing dry pods about the middle of September and just about the entire crop of dry pods will have been harvested just before frost in October. A bean that I had grown and donated to Seed Savers Exchange in the early 1980's.

Bonanza Little Pinto

Bush Dry. First dry pods in about 90 days. Genuine bush pinto grows without runners. Very productive plants produce 5.5 inch pods. A Robert Lobitz original bean that he named and introduced through the Seed Savers Exchange in 2004.

Bountiful

Bush/snap. 47 to 50 days to pickable pods. Early, stringless, flat podded that remain in good eating condition long after picking. Introduced by the Peter Henderson Company in 1898. The variety got it's name through a naming contest that the Henderson company had held. A 25 dollar prize was awarded to Abel Steele of Ferguson, Ontario in 1897 for coming up with the beans name.

Bountiful Ester

Bush/Dry. 100 Days. Sprawling viney plants that do not climb. No ancient history of this one is known, except that SSE member Ralph Coon of Flint, Michigan seems to be the main progenitor of the variety beginning about the mid 1980's.

Bosnian Pole

Pole/Snap. Blossom white. 65 to 75 days to snaps and 95 to first dry pods. Blossom white. 5 inch thick meaty stringless flattened pods. As the name implys a variety from Bosnia. The white patch on the seed is said to develop after the seed ages awhile. Acquired in a bean swap from the representative for western Canada of Seeds of Diversity Canada Shirley Bellows.

Boston Favorite

Bush/Dry. Grows without runners. Matures it's first dry pod in about 90 days, and most of it's dry pods within about 115 days. Six inch green pods lightly splashed in red. An old cranberry or horticultural type originally known as Godard which was grown around the Boston area before 1885. Back then the variety had a runner forming habit. Today's strains are the improved version.

Brauner Bar

Semi-Runner/Dry. Blossom white. Early, 90 days to first dry pods. Productive viney plants can be grown on the ground like a bush plant. However they are much more productive if given support to climb on. I grew these for the first time in 2019 on 4 foot high hog panels, and it seemed I was getting to know the variety all over again. I had never seen this bean grow like it did this summer before. It's German name in English means Brown Bear. Seedcoat pattern is much like Molasses Face except in brown and white.

Bregenzer

Pole/Dry. Acquired this lovely rounded seeded bean when I did some bean trading in the winter of 2013. Thanks to a very nice Austrian lady by the name of Harriet Mella for her act of accidently finding this website. This bean with the colors of Bobolink patterns it's color with the red area not centered around the eye, but around one end of the seed.

Brejo

Pole/Snap. Early 90 to 95 days. Vigorous vines with violet flowers. 8 inch long wide flat pods speckled in maroon remain crisp longer. Probably fairly cold hardy, and well adapted to wet springs. It has been said seed of this variety can be direct sown when daytime highs reach about 60 degrees. A very old variety kept by the native American people.

Brilliant

Semi-Runner/Dry. Not a strong climber. Could be grown on the ground as bush type. Productive plants produce large seeds somewhat kidney shaped seed with a tan base and streaked and speckled with red. A J.R. Hepler variety developed in 1946 at the UNH. A cross between French Horticultural and Gage, a New Hampshire horticultural bean. Sold by his son's seed company the Billy Hepler Seed Co. from the late 1940's through the early 1950's.

Brittle Wax

Bush/snap. Yellow poded. Early, prolific, 45-55 days to snaps. Introduced in 1900 by the Johnson And Stokes seed company under the name Twentieth Century Dwarf Wax. The name was changed to Brittle Wax in 1902 as the result of a naming contest. A cross between Black-eyed Wax and Round-pod Refugee. Therefore a half brother of Round-pod Kidney Wax and Pencil Pod Black Wax through the Round-pod Refugee parentage.

Brown-Eyed Goose

Half Runner/Dry. Discovered in my garden and named by me around 1980. Never kept a record of what bean it was discovered growing among. There are a number of people around the world that have grown and taken a liking to this bean.

Brown Kidney

Bush grows without runners. Round green pods resemble snap pods. First dry pod in about 80 days. Variety was part of John Withee's Wanigan collection. I had once acquired it from Wanigan in 1978 and the bean became the seed mother of Pawnee in 1979.

Brown Trout

Bush/dry. Blossom light pink. Early 80 days to first dry pods. Seedcoat color pattern similar to Jacob's Cattle except in brown and white instead of maroon and white. Amount of white area on seed can vary from season to season depending on weather conditions. Soil type will also affect the seedcoat color expression. As planted in 2012. The resulting seedcrop was about 99.5% brown.

Buckskin Girl

Bush/Snap. An endangered variety also having been sold commercially by two seed companies. 48 days for good stringless green podded snaps as grown in northern Illinois. Did the steam cook test on them in July 26, 2020. 90 days to first dry pods. White blossoms on a sprawling 16 inch plant. 6 inch green pods with a delicate sweet flavor.

Buffy

Bush/Snap. Green poded. Discovered in my bean garden and named by me in 1979. I believe this one is also a product of the Contender x Cherokee Wax cross. This bean seemed to revert back closer to Contender in seed color. It's gentic makeup is probably not the same as Contender. Very productive. Grew some of these in the summer of 2014, and found them to be of good bean flavor, tender and stringless. Also sold by the Secret Seed Cartel in France.

Buxton Buckshot

Half Runner/Dry. 110+ days to dry pods. An old heirloom variety from Buxton, Maine. Climbs to about 4 feet. Pods are round green with purple streaks. In the dry stage pods have very rounded lumps where the seed has formed. Seeds are very round and a little smaller than a navy bean. A fun one to grow and experience.

California

Semi-Runner/Dry. Obtained this tan bean in 1979 mixed into a packet of Zebra which I had gotten from Wanigan Associates. John Withee told me his Zebra bean was sent by a grower in California. So I seperated these solid tan beans, and grew them seperately. Since the bean had grown true for several years I gave it the name California.

Canadian Wild Goose

Semi Runner/Dry. First dry pods begin in about 90 days. Pod walls become very thin upon drying. Easy to shell. Low growing viney plant that throws off short twiners. Plants produce many small short green pods with purple stripping.

Candy

Semi runner/Dry. 106 DTM. Large seeds. Found in my garden in 1982, and named by me. Never listed it in the SSE yearbook until 2013. Sent seed to Ralph Stevenson (MI ST R) of Michigan in 1984 from which it spread through SSE. Older versions of SSE yearbook history read under MI ST R (from Russell Crow of Ill.), and Anne Fuller of Indiana IN FU A (a find from IL CR R). Sold by two Canadian seed companies. Kept in the Seed Savers Exchange collection numbered SSE Bean 2764, and the USDA under number PI642162. a bean called Big Light Red Trout is the seed mother of Candy.

Cannellino Nero

Bush/Dry. Italian variety grows without runners. Blossom pink. Productive plants are about 20 inches tall. Matures first dry 5 inch pods in about 100 days, and matures nearly all it's dry pods by around 120 days. From the collection of well known Italian bean grower Domenico Belisario.

Cannellino Rosso

Bush/Dry. The red counterpart of Cannellino Nero. Similar in growth and season. Also from the collection of well known Italian bean grower Domenico Belisario.

Cassie's Purple Pod

Pole/Snap. The beauty of this bean is in it's growing. A medium stong climber. Tender and stringless purple pods with rich flavor can be picked from it's vines up to 8 inches (20 cm) in length. After cooking the pods turn a dark green color. This variety has been grown and traded among Seed Savers Exchange members in the U.S. as far back as the early 1980's.