image of Abundant Little Gem beans

Abundant Little Gem

Packet Size 30 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of African Cave beans

African Cave

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of African Premier beans

African Premier

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Aghstev Ijevan beans

Aghstev Ijevan

Packet Size 30 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Algarrobo beans

Algarrobo

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Alice Sunshine beans

Alice Sunshine

Sold Out

Bush/Snap. Blossom White. About 50 days to first snaps, and around 80 days for the start of dry seed production. 20" tall plants upright in growth without runners. Heavy yields of 6-8" green pods. An original bean variety developed and named by the late Robert Lobitz of Paynesville, Minnesota.

image of Amber Pearl beans

Amber Pearl

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Andromeda Lima beans

Andromeda

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Angel Eye beans

Angel Eye

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

Bush/Dry. Blossom white. 85 days to first dry pods. 18 to 20 inch tall plants. Even more than beauty this bean has incredible powers of production, 6 plants produced over 10 ounces of beans. Plants are strong and very healthy, and hold their carriage of pods far above the soil. Bliss in a bean! Angel Eye is original bean of mine that I'm proud to have discovered it in my gardens and recognized it's value. After it's discovery I couldn't think of a good name for the bean. Jaanes Aalders of Groningen, Netherlands suggested this name and so it became Angel Eye.

image of Armenian Giant Black beans

Armenian Giant Black

Packet Size 15 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Atwater beans

Atwater

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Aubrey Deane beans

Aubrey Deane

Packet Size 20 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Aussie Purple King beans

Aussie Purple King

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

Pole/Snap. Purple podded snap bean from Australia. Excellent tasting bright flattened purple pods. Plants produce prolific yields of 7 inch pods and harvest over many weeks. Pods will turn green when cooked

image of Bamberger Blaue beans

Bamberger Blaue

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Barnes Mountain beans

Barnes Mountain

Packet Size 30 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Beka Brown beans

Beka Brown

SOLD OUT

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.

image of Berrys Best beans

Berry's Best

Packet Size 30 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Big Dipper beans

Big Dipper

Packet Size 30 Seeds $5.00

Pole/Dry Beautiful large seeded bean. Big yeilds. This is an original named bean of mine that I discovered as a segreation in a cross bean from Canada called Night Sky.

image of Bird Egg beans

Bird Egg

Packet Size 45 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Bird Egg #2 beans

Bird Egg #2

Packet Size 45 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Bird Egg Pole beans

Bird Egg Pole

Unavailable

Pole/Dry. Large seeded cranberry type bean sometimes called horticultural beans. Likes warm summers. First pods begin drying in about 90 to 100 days.

image of Bird Egg Blue beans

Bird Egg Blue

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Black And White Goose beans

Black And White Goose

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Black And White Trout beans

Black And White Trout

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Black Cattle beans

Black Cattle

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

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

image of Black Coco beans

Black Coco

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Black Hawk beans

Black Hawk

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Black Good Mother Stallard beans

Black Good Mother Stallard

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Black Horse beans

Black Horse

Packet Size 30 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Black Nightfall beans

Black Nightfall

Packet size 50 seeds $5.00

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.

image of Black Star beans

Black Star

Packet Size 20 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Black Trout beans

Black Trout

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Black Turkey beans

Black Turkey

Packet Size 30 Seeds $5.00

Pole/Dry. Small seeded produces a profusion of 4 inch pods. Large volume of beans produced for use in any kind of bean recipe.

image of Black Valentine beans

Black Valentine

Packet Size 35 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Blauhilde beans

Blauhilde

Packet Size 35 Seeds $5.00

Pole/Snap. Blossom beautiful purple. Very productive German variety of purple pods that are tender and stringless. Vines and leaves are purple veined and can grow to 12 feet. Said to be drought tolerant and plants are mosaic resistant.

image of Blooming Prairie beans

Blooming Prairie

Packet Size 35 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Blue Jay beans

Blue Jay

SOLD OUT

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.

image of Blue Shaxamaxon beans

Blue Shaxamaxon

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

Pole. Pods turn dark purple when dry. This bean is named for a Lenape meeting and fishing place along the Delaware river, which is now known as the Kensington, Fishtown, and Port Richmond neighborhoods of Philadelphia. It is said to be a pre-1800 Lenape pole bean that was preserved by Quaker farmers in the area, and is said to have been cooked in black mush. A polenta made with blue or black cornmeal.

image of Blue Spitball beans

Blue Spitball

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

Pole/Dry. Very productive. Produces lots of 4 inch pods that are easy to hand shell. The bean was discovered in a bag of beans at a seed swap meeting of vendors. The bag of beans was brought by Joseph Simcox the world seed traveler and explorer of rare seeds and plants. Joseph’s brother had tagged this bean with this name. A number of of people took this bean home and grew them. I acquired this bean about a year later from one of the vendors in Pennsylvania.

image of Bobolink beans

Bobolink

Packet Size 20 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Bomba beans

Bomba

Packet Size 30 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Bogen beans

Bogen

Packet Size 20 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Bonanza Little Pinto beans

Bonanza Little Pinto

Packet Size 35 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Bonanza Valley Navy beans

Bonanza Valley Navy

Packet Size 35 Seeds $5.00

Bush Dry. First dry pods in about 85 days. Blossom Pink. Plants grow with lots of branching which contain copious amounts of pods. 3. to 3.75 inch pods. A Robert Lobitz original named bean.

image of Bountiful beans

Bountiful

Packet Size 30 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Borlotto Di Seluggia beans

Borlotto Di Seluggia

Packet Size 35 Seeds $5.00

Bush/Dry. 90 days to first dry pods. This a cranberry type bean grown since the early 1900’s around Seluggia, Italy. The variety is about as productive as other varieties of this type.

image of Bountiful Ester beans

Bountiful Ester

Packet Size 35 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Bosnian Pole beans

Bosnian Pole

Packet Size 20 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Boston Favorite beans

Boston Favorite

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Brauner Bar beans

Brauner Bar

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Bregenzer beans

Bregenzer

Packet Size 20 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Brejo beans

Brejo

Packet Size 20 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Brilliant beans

Brilliant

Packet Size 20 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Brittle Wax beans

Brittle Wax

Packet Size 35 Seeds $5.00

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.

image of Brooten beans

Brooten

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

Bush/Dry. Very productive with 6 to 7 inch pods. Another bean that started it’s development in 2015 from beans that Robert Lobitz left behind after his passing. The original base material of this bean I had obtained from Seed Saver Exchange member The late Ron Thuma (KS Th R) of Hartford, Kansas.

image of Brown-Eyed Goose beans

Brown-Eyed Goose

Packet Size 25 Seeds $5.00

Pole/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. Early maturing, very productive produces lots of beans. The pods are also very attractive with purple mottling as they mature. Pod walls are thin which makes for easy hand shelling.

  

A Bean Collectors Window - Contact: upadam@comcast.net

Header Photo By Joseph Simcox - "The Botanical Explorer"