Cedar Lake

Bush/Dry. 80 days. Productive and early. Medium sized seed. One of the many original named bean varieties introduced by the late Robert Lobitz through the Seeds Savers Exchange yearbook.

Champagne

Pole/Snap. Snaps in about 70 days. Vigorous climber and productive. 8 inch flat green stingless pods. Given to J.R. Hepler by Ernie Champagne in New Hampshire in the 1940's. J.R. Hepler father of Billy Hepler who started the Hepler Seed Company at the age of 12 first sold this variety in his catalog in 1952.

Charlie Tinker's Grey Ball

Productive bush dry bean variety originating in the U.S.A. Another variety from the bean collection of Joseph Simcox (The Botanical Explorer).

Cherokee Wax

Bush/Snap. 45 to 55 days to snap stage. 90 days to first dry seed. 5 to 7 inch yellow pods. Very productive, stringless. 18 inch tall plants produces well in adverse weather. A mutation from Asgrow Valentine. Bred at the Clemson College Truck Experiment Station in Charleston, South Carolina. The original vendor was Asgrow seed in 1947.

Cherry Trout

Bush/Dry. 82 days to first dry pods. An original named bean found in my bean garden in 1983. The seedcoat is patterned similarly to Jacob's Cattle, but displays a smaller area of red around the eye, and fewer and smaller red spots over the white background. Seed is shorter and slightly plumper.

Chickasaw

Semi-Runner/Dry. Pods up to 4.75 inches, and dry seqentially starting in 90 days. A stable outcross discovered and named by me in 1979. The original named bean I found among a grow out of the round, yellow seeded bush bean "Sulphur" obtained from John Withee's Wanigan Associates in 1978. After a second grow out the bean also segregated into another orignal bean I named Choctaw. Listed in the SSE winter yearbook in 1982.

China Yellow

Bush/Dry. A.K.A. Sulphur bean. Carried by John Withee in his Wanigan catalog in the late 1970's as Sulphur Bean. This New England heirloom dates back to before 1870. Seeds are larger than a Navy bean with a distinctive flavor. Once popular in many different countries. Their are many strains of this bean.

Choctaw

Semi-Runner/Dry. Related to it's genetic relative Chickasaw. An Original named bean of mine discovered in 1979 in my Capron, Illinois bean garden and named Choctaw by me. After the 1979 growing season the distinct look of both Choctaw and Chickasaw had appeared. Reacquired this bean in 2013 from John Staples a past SSE member who was still keeping this bean. He sent me a freezer sample that had been frozen since 2006. I had listed Choctaw for the first time in the 1982 SSE winter yearbook.

Christmas

Pole/Large Seeded Lima. Somewhat late in producing dry seed here. I can get decent seed production in my zone 5 climate. Productive, and large seeded. This variety dates back to the 1840's. Was especially popular in the southwest. Very tolerant of a lot of heat.

Coach Dog

Bush dry bean grows without runners. Blossom pink. Plants grow to about 18 inches tall. Productive plants matures it's first dry pods in about 80 days. Seeds similar in appearance to Jacob's Cattle however it holds it's Jacob's Cattle look in a hot summer. Jacob's Cattle beans turn nearly solid red during a hot season. Coach Dog was once a part of John Withee's Wanigan bean collection of Lynnfield, MA.

Coco Rubico

Bush/Dry. First dry pods in as early as 72 days. Very productive. I grew this bean for a time in the 1980's, and originally purchased it from Le Jardin Du Gourmet who I believe imported seed from Vilmorin seedhouse in France.

Comtesse de Chambord

Bush/Snap. Early, productive, slender green podded snaps. Dates back to early 19th century France. Acquired this version of this bean in 2012 from Two Wings Farm, B.C. Canada. Comtesse de Chambord is the seed mother of my first discovered orignal named bean known as Blue Jay. Although I don't believe this strain of CDC is Blue Jay's seed mother

Comtesse de Chambord (BN 226)

Bush/Snap. I reacquired the bean (photo on the left) from Two Wings farm in 2012, but the seed seemed smaller than I recalled in the '80's I had donated seed (picture above) to Seed Savers Exchange that was the seed mother of Blue Jay. Then during winter 2013 I requested from my donations this same version of this bean. When the seed arrived. Low, and behold a bit larger white seed the way I had remembered Blue Jay's seed mother.

Conserva

Bush snap variety. Compact bush grows without runners. Blossom white, with light green foliage. Produces oval green pods that are fleshy but not stringy and slightly bent. Spelled by German growers as Konserva. Marketed in 1925 by Samenzüchterei David Sachs or Seed Nursery of David Sachs Quedlinburg, Germany. Bred by David Sachs's company. A cross between European varieties Alpha x Saxa. David Sachs 1836-1918

Contender

Bush/Snap. Also known as Buff Valentine. Early and very productive of oval podded green snaps in about 50 days. Dry seed in about 80+ days. Healthy and very disease resistant plants. Developed at the USDA vegetable breeding lab in Charleston, South Carolina by the late Dr. Wade. Introduced to the public in 1949. Still frequently found in seed catalogs and on seed racks today.

Corn Planter's Purple

Pole. Seneca variety. Highly productive. Beautiful pods turn dark purple as seed matures and pods begin to dry.

Cream Six Weeks

Bush/Dry First Dry pods in about 85 days. Blossom lavender. Viney plants about 14 inches tall. Seed about the size of a navy. Short plump and cream/tan in color. Produces a profusion of 4 inch pods that wrinkle tight around it’s seed when dry, and has a blushed purplish color when plump with soft immature seed.

Cresnjevec

Pole/Dry A Slovenian variety sent by a gardener in Germany during the winter of 2013. This name is also the name a village in the municipality of Slovenska Bistrica in northeastern Slovenia. It is probably the place of origin for this variety. Cresnjevec is also very productive.

Crow River Black

Bush/Dry. Very productive slightly smaller than a kidney bean. Excellent for black bean soup or other bean recipes. A variety selected by Robert Lobitz of Paynesville, Mn from a packet of bean crosses received from Dan Jason of Salt Spring Seeds in Canada during 1993.

Cyrus Grays

Bush Dry. 85 Days to first dry pods. A Robert Lobitz original bean that he named and introduced through the Seed Savers Exchange year book in 2004. Named after Cyrus, Minnesota located in Pope county. A beautiful dry bean, speckled & grey like a river pebble. A very hardy bush bean, and is not as vulnerable to fungal issues as some bush beans.

Dalmatian

Bush/Dry 90+ days for dry seed. Seeds are patterned the same as Money except the colors on this one are brighter. Productive upright plants grow without runners. Discovered in my garden and named by me in 1981. Decided to use the "ian" spelling at the end of it's name as Dalmation is a synonym name for Jacob's Cattle. The seed mother of Dalmatian was a bean called Ernie's Big Eye.

Dana's Soldier

Bush dry bean. 85 days to the start of dry pods. An original bean from the collection of early Seed Savers Exchange, and Wanigan Associates member the late Ernest B. Dana of Etna, New Hampshire. Discovered and stabilized by Mr. Dana from his bean gardens back in the 1970's. This bean is another example, and variation of the Trout or Jacob's Cattle type seed coat patterns that Ernie dearly loved.

Dapple Grey

Bush/Dry 60 to 70 days for dry seed. An early maturing variety on 12 to 18 inch plants. Possibly the variety takes it's name for it's color resemblence to the Dapple Grey horse. There is no known history of this bean.

Deb's Creek

Pole/Dry. An Australian variety gifted to me by my Austrian bean friend Harriet Mella. Moderate climber.

Deep Red Trout

Bush dry bean grows without runners. Larger trout type seeds distinguish this variety over Jacob's Cattle. Productive plants produce six inch long and half inch wide pods. Pods dry a little later than early bush dry beans varieties. Given to John Withee's Wanigan Associates by former SSE member the late Ernest B. Dana of Etna, New Hampshire. SSE Bean 459

Delano

Bush dry bean grows without runners. Blossom Lavender. About 90 days to the beginning of first dry pods. Purple pods 5.25 inches long. Seeds smaller than a Navy bean. Off white with some slightly blushed with purple. An original named bean from the late Robert Lobitz that he introduced through the Seed Savers Exchange yearbook for the first time in 2005.

Deseronto Potato

Semi Runner Dry. An Abenaki nation variety given to me by a Seneca man who lives in Pennsylvania. The Bean has been grown by the Iroquois, and Seneca people of North America. Moderately climbing plants can be raised as a pole bean or on the ground as a half runner climbing bean to about 4 to 5 feet. Can be used as a thickener in soup or mashed like potatoes.

Dlouha Pulena Ze Smolijanu

Pole Dry. Start of first dry pods in about 100+ days. A European heirloom bean from the Czech Republic. Early maturing, a tri coloured bean seed in white, oatmeal and chocolate. If there is such a thing as an elegant, dignified bean this is it.

Dog Bean

Bush Dry. Dry seed in about 90 or so days. May or may not be another strain of Jacob's Cattle although it has a similar seedcoat pattern and coloring. Areas of white and red display in a little bit different amounts on the seeds of this bean.

Dwarf Sheild

Semi Runner Dry. Said to be 90 days to first dry pods but was 82 days when grown here. This variety dried down it's entire set of pods in 23 days. The bean will develop yellow pods during it's growing season although it is not a wax variety. An original bean named and introduced by Robert Lobitz through the Seed Savers Exchange yearbook in 1999. Named as the color pattern resembles that of the American indian variety the Hidatsa Shield Bean.

Early Vermillion

Bush Dry. It's earliness truely amazed me when grown here. 71 days to beginning of it's first dry pods. Then dried down it's entire pod set in just 18 days. An original bean named and introduced through Seed Savers Exchange yearbook in 2004 by the late Robert Lobitz of Paynesville, Minnesota.

Early Victor

Semi Runner/Dry. 76 days to beginning of first dry pods. Small pinto colored beans. One of the many beans named and introduced through Seed Savers Exchange by the late Robert Lobitz of Paynesville, Minnesota.

Early Warwick

Bush/Dry. 75 days to beginning of dry seed. Stocky plants and heavy yields. Cool weather tolerant. Grown in Warwick, England before 1890. Acquired this one from a gardening friend in Derby, England.

Early Yellow Six Weeks

Bush/Snap. Green snap pods in about 50 days 90 to dry pods. A very old variety that goes back into the 1700's. Mentioned in publications in the 1860's and said at that time to be a variety that had been around at least for a century.

Eden Prairie

Bush/Snap. 80 to 90 days for the beginning of dry seed. Another of the many bean originals by the Late Robert Lobitz. Marked nearly like a soldier around the eye with the addition of very fine red specks over a white background.

Eden Valley

Bush Dry. Productive 19 inch tall plants produce 4 inch smooth round easy to hand shell pods. Blossom pink. 70 days to first dry pods. Then remaining pods dry sequentially over a period of about three weeks. This is one of the many Robert Lobitz legacy beans that I have worked with since 2015. The bean was a segregation out of a packet of round black, white, and brown beans that I had received from Ron Thuma of Hartford, Kansas in 2015. Named by Russ Crow in 2020.

Edogava Zurunacki Namame

Bush/Dry. Productive variety from eastern Europe. 7 inch pods contain up to six and seven beans.

Emelia's Italian

Pole/Snap. Early and productive. This bean is named in honor of the lady who brought them to Nanaimo British Columbia, Canada from Italy in 1911. Mrs. Emelia Fuller immigrated to Canada from the town of St. Peitro in the provence of Udine in Northern Italy. This bean was originally distributed as "Auntie Vi’s". Annette Barley of Nanaimo had convinced an early seed seller of the bean that Emelia’s Italian was a better tribute. Annette sent me the bean in 2016 and told me that using it as a snap bean is the only way she has used the variety.

Empress

Pole/Lima. Large beans. 116 days this year in 2017 from time of planting to harvesting the first dry pods. The remainder of seed was harvested in the following 30 days. From the lima collection of Curt Burroughs of Memphis, Missouri. He believes it came possibly as an outcross of Christmas. Grew absolutely true to type for me.

Ernie's Big eye

Bush/Dry. Original bean from former SSE and Wanigan Associates member the late Ernest B. Dana of Etna, N.H. The bean dates back to the late '70's and was grown by John Withee's Wanigan bean network. Another variation of the Jacob's Cattle seed coat color pattern that Ernie loved so much. ("Special Note") Seed grown in my soil does not look like this, but might change back depending on your soil. The bean is soil sensitive and grown in my soil the seed tends to be mostly red with a very small amount of white.

Evening Moon

Semi-Runner/Dry. Discovered in my garden and named by me sometime around 1981. The colored area of the seed is a light flesh tone when first harvested, and will remain rather light for many years. Old seed stocks of this bean still remain in my possession from the early 80's.

Eye Of The Goat

Pole/Dry. Begins maturing dry seed in about 90 to 100 days. Said to make fairly decent snap beans when picked young. Otherwise there is no history of this bean known at this time.

Fagiolo Viola Di Assiago

Pole dry. Beautiful purple bean from an Italian bean trading friend in Volpiano, Italy. Six productive plants produced nearly two pounds of beans grown here in northern Illinois. Something wonderful in beans for purple lovers.

Falcon

Bush/Dry. Dry seed in about 90 days. These are the tiniest bean seeds I have ever seen. Many of the seeds have a figure around the eye that looks just like a silhouette of a bird, and so crisply defined.

Fasold

Pole/Snap. Productive plants. Early with long, thin, tender, stringless green pods up to 9 inches in length. I gave seeds to my neighbor and dentist. The bean became an instant hit with these people.

Flossie Powell

Pole/Lima. Very productive. A planting of 4 seeds produced slightly over one pound of beans here in 2018. Dried it's entire crop of dry beans before our first killing frost in October. Introduced into the Seed Savers Exchange, in the 1980’s by Harold R. Martin of Hopkinsville, KY who got it from an aunt named Ethel Martin. Ethel Martin, in turn, received her start of seed from Flossie Powell in 1922.

Forelle Fliederfarben

Pole/Dry. Very productive Many rounded shaped beans acquired from European growers. The seed is similar in appearance to one grown in the U.K. called Cranberry Lilac. When grown in some soils the color can tend more towards gray. Originally acquired this bean from a grower in Austria.

Fort Portal Jade

Semi-Runner/Dry. An interesting and beautiful shading of blueish green. Sourced from a gardener in Groningen, Netherlands who obtained the bean from a fellow named Guy Dirix in Belgium. The beans origin is Fort Portal, Uganda. Originally discovered and named by an American seed collector Joseph Simcox. The local people in Uganda that had grown the variety simply called it a bean.

Freckles

Bush/Dry. 85 days to first dry seed. Seeds are smaller than and patterned similarly to Jacobs Cattle, however white area on the seed is greater and the red spots on the white background is much finer.

Fruhe Goldbohne

Bush Dry. Compact 12 inch tall plants with 4.5 inch green pods. Beautiful striking in appearance, almost luminous. German dry bean that interprets as "Early Gold Bean. My seed was originally sourced from a bean trading friend in Austria.

Ganymede

Pole/Lima. 100+ dry days. Very productive strong vigorous growing vines. I had grown this bean as far back as the early 80's. Received it from an unlisted SSE member by the name of E.P. Griggs who didn't know it's name. After seeing pictures in National Geographics magazine of the planet Jupiter and it's moon system. I named the bean after the Jovian moon Ganymede. Now after 30 years the name seems to have stuck.

Ga Ga Hut

Pole, short climber to about six feet. Rapid maturing very productive plants produced first dry pods in about 70 days in my 2016 northern Illinois summer. Produced a second smaller flush of pods of quality dry seed in another 40 days. Native American version, of a pinto.

Genesis

Pole Lima. From the collection of Curt Burroughs of Memphis, Missouri. He acquired the bean from the USDA seed bank in Pullman Washington. Not much is known about this bean as the seed bank gave little information except upon growing in northern Illinois this summer of 2017 it grew quite well. The plants received slight shade during part of the day. Yet to be tested in a full sunlight enviornment.

George's Bean

Pole/Dry. Sourced for me during the winter of 2013 by Harriet Mella of Austria from Deaflora seeds in Germany. An old variety from England used typically for baked beans.

Giant Stringless Greenpod

Bush/Snap. Tall plants over two feet in height. Long pods somewhat variable, long and stringless. One of the most popularly grown snap beans of the early twentieth century. Bred by Calvin Keeney the father of the stringless bean, and introduced by Johnson & Stokes Seed Company in 1898.

Giele Waldbeantsje

Bush/Dry. Known in the Netherlands as the Yellow Forest bean. This productive Friesian heirloom has been grown for countless generations.