If you want green baby limas, Thorogreen or Hendersons's Green Seeded. Thorogreen/Cangreen are more prolific than Henderson's but appearance is the same.

King of the Garden pole Lima's are all I grow. I've been saving my own seeds for years & plant them. They aren't a hybrid, and not availble in many locations, but I did find them online.

The seeds are white/cream color, but...the beans are green when young.

"K.O.G" is also one of my favorites, for both size & flavor... but while it matures faster than most large-seeded limas, it's still unpredictable this far North. Using transplants has proven to be very helpful, though. Even with last year's unseasonably cool summer, still got about 30% of of the pods to ripen before frost.

My favorite thus far for flavor has been a small-seeded variety I obtained from William Weaver, "Hopi Pole". Beautiful multi-colored seeds that keep their colors when cooked... but again, it requires a little more summer than I usually have here. Even with transplants, there have been large numbers of pods still hanging when frost took the vines.

Oh, and the yield can be incredible. The day after my first light frost, only the vines above 2 feet had been affected. I cut the vines below this point, and pulled the plants to harvest the remaining pods. This is one of those plants; the leaves have been removed, so everything you see is pods:

I also like the bush variety "Fordhook 242", which has very fat "potato" limas similar in flavor to "K.O.G."; but I had a lot of pods rot where they touched the ground.

To date I've never grown lima beans but I have to say Zeedman that's one little cutie you've got displaying those great looking beans.

Annette

Every year I've grown Henderson I've had a reasonable harvest. On the few occasions I tried Fordhook and Baby Fordhook, I've had variable results, with some total dud years.

Christmas a.k.a. Giant Calico, is a colorful pole lima. I tried it for the first time last year. My harvest was small due to a late start, but the flavor was excellent. I'm giving it a 2nd try this year.

"Even with last year's unseasonably cool summer, still got about 30% of of the pods to ripen before frost."

Oh THAT explains why I didn't get any limas last year! It was my first time trying them and was disappointed not to get any at all. I was going to give up on them, but now I'll try again, and hope for a warmer summer.

Zeedman, how'd you get the Hopi Poles from WWW? Does he sell/share seeds or do you have a personal connection?

"Zeedman, how'd you get the Hopi Poles from WWW? Does he sell/share seeds or do you have a personal connection?"

There was a personal connection of a sort. William & I are (or were?) both listing members of the Seed Savers Exchange; I since 2000, William much longer. He once listed much of his collection in the annual Yearbook, and I obtained quite a bit of seed from him, much of which I still offer (a few things I have yet to grow).

William has since stopped listing his seeds with SSE, so I don't know if he is still a member. It's a shame, because as I understand from several other gardeners who have contacted me, he continues to speak & write about the heirlooms in his collection. Don't know if he offers seeds at his speaking engagements, but I hope so, since he is the only source for many of them. His bean collection is impressive.

Egganddart, last year was a very bad one in the Northern states for heat-loving crops, including limas. I don't think my local temperature ever broke 90 degrees. Had I not used transplants, I doubt that my pole limas would have produced at all. The pole variety "Sieva" (a.k.a. "Carolina") will make it most years here even direct seeded; but for larger/later varieties, you might want to consider using transplants to increase your chances for success.

What then are the shortest DTM pole limas? I know that none are really short, not even for the bushes, but it might help to know, given the wacky weather that may be in store for for all of us.

Heat (or lack thereof) can strongly influence the DTM for limas, so those in warmer climates than mine might have different observations. The more heat units in Summer, the better; even one zone warmer, and limas prosper.

Of those I have tried, "Sieva" matures most rapidly here; about 80-85 days for the first dry seed, with shellies about 10 days before that. I've observed its close relative "Carolina Red" on SSE's Heritage Farm, and it seems to have a similar DTM. These are small-seeded varieties that are cool tolerant, and both are available commercially.

"Sieva" is probably the best pole lima for the North, and can bear heavily... it is the only pole lima I have grown which matured all pods before frost, and the only one I can direct seed with any hope for success. However, it is not my favorite for flavor.

"King of the Garden" is probably the earliest large-seeded lima. It took 110 days to get dry seed last year; but then, that was one of the coolest summers on record. 100 days is probably more typical.

I've grown two heirlooms which fall somewhere in between for both size & maturity: "1880's Butterbean" (maroon & red, 90 days to dry) and "North Star" (white w/maroon eye, 100 days dry).

Oh, and in reference to the Hopi limas... there is a commercial source. The one William Weaver offered may be the original multi-colored land race. There are cultivars that were further selected for their colors, you can find some of them at Native Seeds/SEARCH here

I'm considering making a mini hoop-house of pvc poles and visqueen to put over a teepee of King of the Garden and see if I finally get some beans. Barring floods, hail and tornadoes, of course.