Louisiana

Pole Snap. A.K.A. Louisiana Snap. 75 days to snaps and 100 to first dry seed. Heavy yields of green pods streaked with purple. 8 to 9 seeds per pod. Pods remain tender for an extended period. Another of my all time favorite pole snap varieties. People who have gotten this bean from me tell me what a great bean it is to grow and enjoy.

Lynnfield

Pole/Large Seed Dry Bean. 110+ days to dry seeds that are larger than a kidney. Discovered in the early 1980 by Wanigan Associates fame bean man John Withee growing among a bean named Lila Stuart. Lila Stuart was an original bean of a gardener from Etna, New Hampshire by the name of Ernest B. Dana.

Ma Willimas

Pole/Snap. Appalachian snap bean also known as Goose Bean. Said to be useful for fresh eating as well as using it as a dry bean. Large pods turn bright pink as seed begins to mature. Very productive, 90 to 110 days for dry seed.

Madelia

Bush Snap. 76 days to first dry pod. Large productive plants produce 5-6 inch round green pods. A Robert Lobitz original named bean he introduced through the Seed Savers Exchange yearbook in 2004. Seeds are identical in appearance to another of Robert Lobitz's beans called Alice Sunshine but larger, seeds, plants and pods.

Maggies Cresent

Bush/Snap. Blossom white, 90 plus days to dry seed. Productive, 4 to 5 seeds in 5 inch pods. Said to be a cross of Magpie and Jumbo. More of the Robert Lobitz introduced beans.

Magpie

Bush Snap. 50+ days for snaps and 90 days for dry seed. Plants are good size erect 15 to 18 inches tall, runnerless. Long 5.25 x 5/16 inch smooth pods very similar in appearance to Painted Pony and Vermont Appaloosa. Introduced as Superlative by Sutton of England in 1909. Magpie was introduced from France in 1913. Eventually both varieties were found to be identical.

Maine

Bush/Dry. Nearly 90 days to dry seed. One of the many yellow eye type beans such as Maine Yellow Eye, Vermont Yellow Eye, and Molasses Face. A new addition to the collection in 2014 from Mandy's Greenhouse in Tyndall, Manitoba Canada.

Maine Sunset

Bush/Dry. Nearly 90 days to dry seed. Beautiful rounded plump seed with a large red figure around the eye with a bit of buff mottling in it. The name would suggest a Maine heirloom. Looks very similar to Rockwell.

Major Cook's

Pole. Productive plants climb over 8'. 5.5" pods splashed bright red turn deep purple as pods become curved before drying. Multi purpose. Pods are fiberless, thick walled and juicy with a strong flavor. Sweet rich and pleasant. If you eat the whole beans they will stay intact in a casserole. The texture is buttery, silky, rich and sweet. British citizen Harold Luxton was in France during WW1. He returned to work as a gardener for the War Graves Commission under a Major Cook. Breeding a bean to their liking. Luxton was awarded a British Empire medal from the Royal Horticultural Society for his work.

Mammoth Trout

Bush dry bean grows without runners. Productive here in a northern Illinois summer. Plants do not look uniquely different than many other beans. A variety that was part of John Withee's Wanigan collection and donated to him by the late SSE member Ernest B. Dana of Etna, N.H.

Marfax

Bush/Dry. Rounded golden tan beans larger than a Navy and similar in color as Beka Brown. A New England favorite with a history that is hard to track. It has been said that the variety was introduced by the federal government to “Downeast” Maine during the depression. Nevertheless a classic bean for baking and hearty soups with a toothsome texture that retains it's shape even with long slow cooking.

Mariazeller

Pole/Dry. 115 days to first dry pods. A strong climber produces round green pods 4 x ½ inches long that wrinkle as they dry. The variety came to me from a grower in Leibenfels, Austria. The beans name translates to from Mariazell. The name is a reference to Mariazell Basilica, also known as Basilica of the Birth of the Virgin Mary. It is the most important pilgrimage destination in Austria, and one of the most visited shrines in Europe. This is a very lovely bean. The seeds are really beautiful, very large and round with a mix of white and red colouring with goldish caramel flecks over the red overlay.

Maria Zeller

Bush/Dry. 85 days. Acquired from a young lady by the name of Andrea Jones in the U.K. in early 2012. She was having trouble keeping the bean going. I got her last two seeds. Increased them to over 1200. I was happy to have saved her bean for her and she was pleased to receive an nice sample of seed from me after two seasons.

Mazeppa

Bush/Dry. First dry pods begin in about 82 days. This bean is a Robert Lobitz named and introduced variety. The seed coat of this bean has a similar coloring and patterning as another or Robert's beans called Canoe. Productive compact plants that grow without runners to about 15 inches tall.

Mbombo Green

Pole/Dry/Snap. This unique green color seed can be used in soups. The pods can be eaten as a green vegetable. The variety originates in Kenya Africa. To the people of the Kuba tribe Mbombo is associated with the Creator God. The bean itself is thought of as a sign of prosperity and bringing good fertility to the soil.

Medal Refugee

Bush/Snap. Bred and introduced by the Asgrow seed company of New Haven, Conecticut. Introduced to the public in 1942. One of the great classic snap beans of the World War II era. Excellent round green pods. Parentage is United States 5 x Round Pod Kidney Wax.

Midnight Black Turtle Soup

Semi Runner/Dry. 90 days to first dry pods. Blossom violet. Highly productive plants. Usually the most productive of my bush or semi runners every season they are grown. Produces the largest volume of beans by total weight. Bears large quantities of pods. Developed at Cornell University. Pleasant flavor in black bean soup.

Midnight Blue

Semi Runner dry. 85 days to dry beans. Blossom: pink. Productive plants produce beautiful purple 5.5 inch pods. An original bean named and introduced by Robert Lobitz through the Seed Savers Exchange yearbook in 2001.

Minnesota Beauty

Bush dry. 104 days to first dry pods. A bit Later than other early dry bush varieties. Large bush plants grow without runners and very dark foliage. Productive, 10 plants produced nearly one pound of seed when grown here in northern Illinois. A Robert Lobitz Legacy bean. In 2015 I had received a box of beans that Robert would have likely worked with if he had lived beyond 2006. This bean developed from one of those legacy beans.

Minnesota 1940's

Semi-Runner/Dry. 85 days to first dry pods. Viney climbing plants that are more productive if grown on support. This bean had been grown and was collected in Minnesota during the 1940's. The beans name would seem to suggest that the original name is unknown and it's current name now is reflective of the place and time of it's discovery.

Missouri Bill's

Semi Runner/Dry. 95 days to first dry pods. Obtained from the Ozark Seed Bank. 5.5 inch long pods contain 3 to 5 large horticultural type beans. Productive plants that are viney semi-runner type. Would benefit from growing on some type of support.

Missouri Wonder

Pole/Snap. 70 days to first stringless snap pods. Introduced to the seed trade in the 1930’s. Farmer’s of the 1930’s first began growing Missouri Wonder for it’s resilience in harsh conditions. Usually grown alongside of corn as the corn stalks supported the vines. Housewives like this bean as it was used for fresh eating and canning plus as a dry bean.

Molasses Face

Semi Runner/Dry. 80 Days to first dry pods. Another old time New England favorite for soup and baked beans. Plants are productive having a twinning habit and will climb a support. I have grown this variety on the ground like a bush bean, but are best supported for larger quantity of quality seed. Short green round pods about 4 to 5 seeds per pod.

Monachelle Di Trevio

Pole/Dry. Productive Italian variety grown in central Italy. A rare variety grown by only a small number of farmers there. Likely the beans originates from the town of Trevio as di Trevio translates as of Trevio. Produced an excellent high quality seed crop when grown here in northern Illinois.

Mona Lisa

Pole/Dry. A beautiful bean from a bean friend in Liebenfels, Austria. The first time this variety was planted in the summer of 2015. 8 seeds were planted and I had harvested back nearly a thousand seeds.

Money

Bush/Dry. Dry beans begin at around 80 days. Seedcoat is patterned much like Jacob's Cattle except with a third color mottled into the darker red areas of the seed. The variety was developed in England.

Mostoller Wild Goose

Pole/Dry. 100 DTM. Flower white. Plants are vigorous, productive. Pods are flattened, wide which average about 4 seeds per pod. In autumn of 1865 one of the two sons of Joseph Mostoller shot a lone goose in Somerset county Pennsylvania. Upon prepping the goose for a meal Joseph's Wife Sara found the unusual beans in the goose's crop. Dried and planted them in the spring of 1866. The bean is still with us after five generations.

Mr Tung

Pole/Snap. Delicous stringless snap green pods in 65 days. A Chinese laborer who was hired in the 1900’s to take care of the garden on 50 acres of the James D. Kerr farm In Long Beach, British Columbia. Grew these beans in the gardens. After 25 years Mr. Tung returned to China and the Kerr family preserved this bean by continuing to grow it.

Mrociumere

Bush/Dry. 90+ days to dry seed. Blossom white. 15 inch tall high yielding upright plants. 6 inch oval pods. Origin Kenya.

Mulldoon

Bush/Dry. 82 days to first dry pods. Then pods dry sequentially. Blossom white. 18 to 20 inch tall high yielding upright plants grow without runners. 7 & 1/4 inch long slender oval pods. A bean I have named, having grown this bean and watched it with interest every year since it's discovery in it's seed mother Jacob's Cattle Amish in 2014.

Neabels Ukrainian

Pole/Dry. Seed patterned somewhat like Jacob's Cattle, but larger. Seeds of this variety holds it's color pattern when grown here than does Jacob's Cattle. From Annapolis Seeds in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Neptune

Pole/Lima. Another lima variety that I had obtained from unlisted SSE member E.P. Griggs in 1980. He sent this one along with several others without a name including Ganymede. So I tagged this one Neptune.

New Mexico Red Appaloosa

Pole/Snap. 90 Days to dry seed. Light vines are very productive. Pod set comes late in the season.

Nez Perce

Semi runner productive dry bean. Early maturing. Easy shelling pods. Native American variety grown by the Nez Perce people.

Nigel

Bush dry. 100+ DTM. Very productive plants about 20 inches tall. 4.5 inch slightly wrinkled easy to hand shell pods. It has a small seed size but produces them profusely. Wayne James of Tierra Farms in California had gotten the bean from Nigel Walker of Eat Well farms in that state. My donor from Catasauqua, Pennsylvania had obtained this bean at the Appalachian Seed Swap in Pikeville, Kentucky in 2018 before sending me the bean in the autumn of 2019.

North Pole

Pole/Large Lima. 100+ DTM. Originally called Winfield as it originated with a Mrs. Winfield of Painted Post, NY. Introduced to the seed trade by the Billy Hepler Seed Company starting in 1953. Billy started his company at the age of 12. A cross of Cowey and Christmas Limas. The original cross likely occurred in the 1940’s. After Billy’s dad passed in 1962, Hepler's inventory was sold to Farmer Seed & Nursery Company of Faribault, MN. Farmer's 1965 catalog states North Pole is new to their listings. No reference to North Pole can seem to be found anywhere prior to Farmer’s release in 1965. The name was probably changed for commercial reasons.

North Star

Pole/Lima. Large Seeded. 100+ days to first dry seed. I have grown this variety successfully in northern Illinois back in the early 80's. Mild flavor. 35 seeds to the ounce.

North Star Bush Pinto

Bush dry bean. Productive, 85 Days to the start of first dry pods. The remainder of the pinto crop usually drys within three weeks depending on the weather. An original bean released in 1999 by the late Robert Lobitz of Paynesville, Minnesota. Said to be the very first true bush pinto.

North Town Brown Eye

Bush dry bean. First dry pods in about 85 days 18 inch tall plants with pink blossoms. 4.25 inch long pods contain oval white beans with a golden yellow figure around the eye. A Robert Lobitz orignal named bean.

Nova Star

Pole/Dry. Productive variety from a northern California gardener Marshall Smyth who found this bean among his Mayflower beans in 2012.

Nun's Belly Button

Bush dry bean. 90 days to first dry seed. Upright plants without runners. Looks similar to a soldier bean. This one came from the private collection of an employee of Garden Organic, formerly known as the Henry Doubleday Research Association.

Oak Tree Pinto

Bush/Dry. 90 to first dry pods. Productive bean with pinto markings and color. Another of the late Robertl Lobitz of Paynesville, Minnesota original named beans.

Ohio Pole

Pole/Dry. 100 Native American in origin. This pole bean of massive and healthy growth is a late 1700's heirloom grown by the Miami people of Kekionga (present day Fort Wayne Indiana), as well as by the Potawatomi, the Shawnee and the Delaware. A heavy producer of large fleshy 8 inch pods.

Orca

Bush/Dry. 90+ days to dry seed. A.K.A. Calypso, Yin Yang. Productive plants grow to 17 inches tall, upright with out runners.

Orca ( Double Helix Strain )

Semi-Runner/Dry. Another bean by the name of Orca. The grower is the Double Helix farm in Conway, Arkansas who had received it from Canadian resident the late Dan McMurray. Dan was a customer and friend of the Double Helix Farm. This seed is different from the bean that I have come to know as Orca which has the large blotch of black on a rounder seed surrounding the eye against a white background.

Oregon Giant

Pole/Snap. Blossom pink. Green pods 8 1/2 to 9 1/2 inches long, marked with brownish purple. 7 to 8 seeds per pod. Plants are vigorous climbers. Of western U.S. origins. A long time favorite in the Pacific Northwest. Had been grown for the canning industry from the 1930's to the 70's.

Osborne And Clyde

Pole/Dry. 90+ days to dry seed. Vigorous climbing plants. Green short flat pods with reddish purple mottling.

Owl's Head

Semi Runner/Dry. Some say they have grown this bean on supports as a pole bean. I have always grown this bean on the ground like a bush. Lately however I have grown it on handy panels that you can purchase at Tractor Supply Store. An outcross with an interesting looking seed from Seed Savers Exchange member Will Bonsall (Scattered Seed Project) of Industry, Maine. I had grown this one in the early 80's. Seems as if it could be unstable as it throws off different seedcoat patterns. However more recent growings seem to show very little to no off types being produced.

Painted Pony

Bush/Snap/Dry. Blossom white. About 60 days to snaps and 90 days to the first dry bean pods. Pick green pods while young before advanced seed development becomes apparent for delicious snaps. A native variety to Mexico and the Southwestern United States. Compact plants with long green slender pods about 6 to 7 inches with 4 to 6 seeds per pod.

Pale Face

Bush/Dry. Dry pods begin to dry sequentially in about 85 days. 18 inch tall plants stand upright and grow without runners. Oval green pods 5 x 1/2 inch. Very productive, white seed, plump, short, yellow eye size with a light flesh toned figure around the eye remains light in tone over a long period, but will eventually darken to look like a yellow eye. Also more productive than any yellow eye I have ever grown. Easy to hand shell. For soup or baked beans. Discovered in my gardens and named by me in 1979. Seed mother is Owl's Head.

Pale Grey Lavender

Semi Runner/Dry. 90+ days to first dry pods. Early, beautiful and productive. Most productive if supported on a low 4 foot tall fence keeping the drying pods off the soil. The seed looks better in person than in a photo. Heavy pod set. A European variety originating in Croatia.

Palomino

Bush/Dry. 90+ days to first dry pods. Green oval pods. Another one of John Withee's Wanigan beans reacquired from an Oregon gardener and SSE member in the winter of 2013.

Papa de Rolla

Pole/Dry. 90+ days to dry seed. A.K.A. "Dove's Breast" An heirloom from Portugal. Short 3.5 to 4.5 foot vines. 3 to 6 seeds per pod. Reportedly makes a good soup bean.

Parker’s Prairie

Bush/Dry. First dry pods in 85 days. The remaining pods finish drying over a period of about 3 weeks. Seed is nearly white and markings are hard to discern when newly harvested. Color and pattern develop over several months. This bean began it’s development in 2015 from seed acquired from Seed Savers Exchange member Ron Thuma (KS TH R) of Hartford, Kansas. This was seed left behind by Robert Lobitz’s passing in 2006. The bean was named by me in 2020.

Paul Bunyan Giant

Pole snap. About 11 years ago when the Heritage Food Crops Research Trust in New Zealand was called Central Tree Crops Research Trust. They had a project called The New Zealand Bean Project from which I obtained this bean. Not to be confused with Oregon Giant. They are not the same beans.

Pawnee

Bush/Dry. 90 days to first dry pods. Very clean shelling, productive on upright plants without runners. Found in my garden & named by me in 1979. Listed the bean in the '82 and '83 SSE yearbook. Discovered the bean is sold commercially. Terrior Seeds told me their source seed was Seed Savers. A brief reference in a bean book I published in 1980 called "Hill Of Beans", a copy of which can be viewed at SSE's Heritage Farm Library, and on this website.