(Phaseolus vulgaris )
Green beans and dry beans are the same species harvested at different stages of growth. Dry beans are not hard to grow in my zone 4 or 5 conditions. Plant them the same as green beans, but leave the pods to dry on the plants. I don’t water them. Ideally, wait to harvest until the pods are dry and brown or yellow and the seeds rattle inside them; however, rain can cause your beans to rot (or sprout), so you may need to pick the pods or cut the plants and spread them out indoors to finish drying. Even if they aren’t quite dry when rain or frost forces you to harvest, they will still usually produce viable seed.
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Royal Burgundy bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Bush. Plants are produce a good crop of purple pods which turn a deep green when cooked. They bear heavily at first, but continue producing for a while. This is my family’s old, faithful bean for freezing and canning; I can’t remember when my mother first started growing it, but it was the first bean we saved seed from. 55 days to harvest, 95 days to maturity. 30…
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Sequoia bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Bush. A purple-podded Romano bean with flat pods. I like purple beans because I think they are easier to find on the plants (and because the way they change colour during cooking is really cool), and I like Romanos because they are large, so you don’t have to pick so many beans per quart! This one combines both features. 60 days to harvest, 90 days to maturity. 35 seeds/packet.
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Blauhilde bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Pole, 8-10’/2.6-3 m tall. Beautiful purple-tinged vines produce large, round purple pods. Don’t expect loads of beans all at once from this variety; produces slowly but steadily over a long season. 65 days to harvest, 100 days to maturity. 30 seeds/packet.
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Horst Pole bean
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Pole, 8’/2.6 m tall. A long-season, but superb, green bean. Pods are substantial and stay tender even when quite large. The dry beans are very beautiful: long grey seeds with darker stripes. This variety complements Northeaster very well, beginning bearing just about when Northeaster finishes. I was given seed for this bean by Edith Martin. It was passed down in her mother’s family (whose name it bears). Interestingly,…
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Marvel of Venice bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Pole, 8’ /2.6 m tall. Romano type with wide, flat yellow pods which contrast beautifully with dark green leaves. 65 days to harvest, 95 days to maturity. 40 seeds/packet.
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Northeaster bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Pole, 8'/2.6 m tall. A Romano-type bean which bears large, flat pods 8” long by ¾” wide. Pick while pods are still flat, but seeds are just beginning to show. Early, bountiful, and delicious; probably my favourite green bean. 65 days to harvest, 95 days to maturity. 30 seeds/packet. Northeaster produces an abundance of beans over a relatively short period of time, which is ideal for preserving, but…
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Arikara Yellow bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Bush; grown by the Arikara along the Missouri River in what is now North Dakota, so it matures in a short season. Large seeds in long straight pods look like yellow kidney beans. Included in the Slow Food Foundation’s Ark of Taste, this variety was collected by Lewis and Clark in 1805, and grown by Thomas Jefferson (who called it “Ricara”) in his famous garden at Monticello. By…
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Black Nicaraguan bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Beautiful upright bushes are incredibly productive, keep their pods off the ground well, and are easily harvested by cutting the whole plants and trampling them, making this one of the easiest dry bush beans I’ve grown. A ‘black turtle’ type bean with matte-black small seeds. Beautiful.
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Goose Gullet bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) A large-seeded bush bean with light speckling on a rich red-brown background. The story of the name is interesting: in 1755 the British, having freshly subdued the former French colony of Acadia (now Nova Scotia & New Brunswick), became distrustful of the Acadians’ willingness to be good British subjects. So, in one of the ugly chapters of Canadian history (the Grand Dérangement/ Acadian Expulsion), they rounded up many…
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Great Northern bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Bush. This variety was first sold by Oscar H. Will, who ran a seed company in Bismark, North Dakota in the late 1800s and early 1900s. He seems to have been a great admirer of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara, Indigenous peoples of that area who practiced agriculture along the Missouri River. In his catalogues, he emphasized the need for seeds and agricultural practices adapted to his region,…
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Hidatsa Shield Figure bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) A large, beautiful bean from the Hidatsa people who lived along the Missouri River in what is now North Dakota. Mentioned in Buffalo Bird Woman’s Garden, an excellent book on Hidatsa agriculture from 1917, this bean is a bush with runners which would probably be happiest climbing some neighbouring corn plants. Soft and creamy when cooked, with a mild, delightful flavour.
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Jacob’s Cattle bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Bush; the name refers to the entertaining Biblical story of Jacob’s underhanded means of gaining a goat herd – see Genesis 30:25-43. Large, kidney-shaped seeds are indeed speckled and spotted with burgundy on a white background. Early, trouble-free heirloom from Maine; plant and forget them until harvest time. Also called Trout bean. 90 days to maturity. 30 seeds/packet.
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Kenearly Yellow Eye bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) This variety is from Kentville, Nova Scotia, but yellow eye beans are a classic type from the Northeast, especially associated with Maine. Productive bushes; beans are ideal for baking. There is an interesting range of shapes to the yellow “eye” markings over the hilum; study them carefully!
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Macuzalito bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Bush with runners; this bean doesn’t need trellising, but it likes to sprawl a little. Plants produce mostly red pods, though a few are always green-podded. Seeds look like miniature kidney beans. Easy to grow, harvest, and shell, we call this our “utility bean”: not exceptional but dependable and good for any recipe. Originally from Honduras, it was released in 2004 after being bred by a partnership of…
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Mennonite K Triple A bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) This bean is an heirloom from Manitoba, and, as one would expect, is very early-maturing. It was grown by Katherine Thiessen who immigrated from the Black Sea area of southern Russia to near Winkler, Manitoba in 1890, when she was 14. Katherine’s daughter Anne grew her mother’s beans in her own garden after marrying in 1914 and moving to Springfield, Saskatchewan. She passed them on to her daughter,…
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Öland Swedish Brown bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Stout short bushes produce lots of small, plump, golden-brown seeds which taste wonderfully satisfying. This variety has been grown on the island of Öland, off the southeastern corner of Sweden, where bruna bönor have been being grown since the mid-1600s, and this type has been grown since at least 1885. Boarded on the Slow Food Foundation’s Ark of Taste, where they note that Öland actually has four varieties…
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Pois Féves Lalibertè bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Bush. This is an American type “pea bean;” round, pale yellow beans could easily be mistaken for a pea or soy bean. An heirloom variety from Quebec. 100 days to maturity. 30 seeds/packet.
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Quincy Pinto bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) A sprawling bush which might be happier on a trellis but doesn’t need it. Bred by Washington State University for improved disease resistance, Quincy is a very pleasant bean to have around. 90 days to maturity. 40 seeds/packet.
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Speedy Alpine Grex bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Bush. A curious mix of various colours, patterns and shapes, this bean comes from the Experimental Farm Network, who got it from Wild Mountain Seeds in Colorado. They got its ancestors from Joseph Lofthouse of Utah and selected them for earliness, since their growing season is even shorter than mine. Interestingly, they suggest sowing them shortly before the frost-free date. I am too timid to risk my beans…
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Amish Nuttle bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Pole, vines 5-8’/1.6-2.6 m tall; grows well on corn. Produces small, curved pods with “cutshort” beans; that is, when the seeds are mature, they press against each other in the pod, causing them to be characteristically squared-off on the ends. Seeds are small, grey with burgundy speckling on one end. Also excellent for leather britches (remove the strings before drying). One of the older documented varieties in our…
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Bai Bu Lao bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Pole bean from northern China with enormous, flat pale green Romano-type pods which get 10-12” long and stay tender. Impressively productive. Also called Lao Lai Shao.
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Dolloff bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Pole, 8”/ 2.6 m tall. Flattish orange seeds with darker orange speckles resemble Lima beans. This bean entered Seed Savers Exchange Seed Network through Leigh Hurley in 1986; she had received it from Hattie Gray of West Burke, Vermont, who had grown it for years and used it for baked beans which she served at church suppers. Hattie told Leigh that it came from Roy Dolloff in Burke…
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Doyce Chambers Greasy Cut-short bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Pole, 8’/2.6 m tall. Prolific vines bear a remarkable number of pods filled with small, white-seeded beans. I got this bean from the Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Center in Gatesville, North Carolina; they received it from Doyce Chambers of Bethel, NC. The name describes the pod type; the outside is shiny and hairless (hence greasy) and inside the seeds cram against each other, causing the ends to look cut…
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Ga Ga Hut Pinto bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Pole, 5-8’/1.6-2.6 m tall; grows well on corn. Pods filled with classic pinto beans, which have a smooth, buttery flavour; also just fine as a green bean, though it has strings. I acquired this bean from Heritage Harvest Seeds in Manitoba; they say it came from the Seneca. My favourite pinto. 85 days to maturity. 30 seeds/packet.
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Kahnawake Mohawk bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Pole, 8-10’/2.6-3 m tall. Vigorous, productive vines produce orb-shaped tan beans with darker brown striping. One of our highest yielding beans, but be warned: they take their time getting established before bearing, and use every day of the growing season here. Thanks to an early frost I discovered that they will finish drying down just fine even after frost kills their leaves. The name of this bean refers…
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Mixed Cornfield bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) This “variety” is actually a mixture of a number of beans with dramatically different seed coats which have been grown together for a long time. I got it from Great Lakes Staple Seeds, but it has an interesting history before them. Apparently it was given to a Mrs. Effie Neeley (1908-2000) by her mother, Suzanne (née Wireman) Howard, after Effie married in the 1920s. Shortly afterword, she and…
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North Carolina Long E Greasy bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Pole, 8’/2.6 m tall. If you are interested in growing Navy beans, but lack the space for them, this bean might be an ideal replacement; vigorous vines are more productive per square foot than bush beans, and it matures quite evenly, making it easy to harvest. 95 days to maturity. 35 seeds/packet.
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San Bernardo Blue bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Pole 8’/2.6 m tall. Blue beans! They actually come in an interesting range of shades, from a pale gray/slate blue to a deep royal blue. Apparently the colour depends on the temperature while the seeds are growing; hotter weather makes them grayer, while cooler weather makes them bluer. All of them darken as they age, like most beans. We found that we got good blue colour by growing…
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Steeves Caseknife bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Pole, 8’ tall. This bean comes from the Steeves family, who grew it in Edgett’s Landing, Albert County, New Brunswick. I found this bean at Heritage Harvest Seeds in Manitoba, while searching for a Canadian bean to use for leather britches. Leather britches, or green beans dried at the shelly stage, are a traditional food in Appalachia, but I live far north of most of the people who…
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Turkey Craw bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Pole, 8-10’/2.6-3 m tall. A lovely bean with a buttery texture similar to pinto beans. Originally from the Cumberland Gap region between Virginia and Kentucky, they sometimes show that they are far from home by being a little late-maturing, but they still produce abundantly here. The name refers to the story of their origin: a hunter (who may have been a slave, the details are lost to history)…
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Uganda Bantu bean
- $4.00
- (Phaseolus vulgaris) Pole, 8’/2.6 m tall. This bean appears to be a landrace; vines produce seed in a range of shapes and colours, mostly a dull violet but with some burgundy, grey, brown and yellow beans as well. Very beautiful. 105 days to maturity. 40 seeds/packet.
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