Christmas limas, favas, lupinis, lentals , soybeans, pinto beans, or any dried beans that are sold for food in your super markets in your area. should work . Try the ethnic and gourmet food stores the "Greek giant limas " will be a big hit . I do not know what will grow best in Fla so keep me posted .

I second that on Christmas limas. They are colorful, large seeded and productive. They'd need poles. But you could do a bean tee-pee which in itself would be a kid magnet. Another idea would be some variety of yard long bean, which is actually a kind of cowpea. These too, generally require poles and are quite productive. The difference being, you can use them for snaps.

George
Tahlequah, OK

Warning, lima bean pods have toxic compounds and should not be eaten, and the lima beans must be cooked before eating even as shellies.

Eating fresh beans off the vine is half the fun so maybe grow cowpeas, yardlongs, and regular beans separate from the limas and make sure the kids are told not to eat the limas, if you grow them at all. Butterbeans are limas.

You could also grow sweet peas, they are like candy fresh off the vine. That is, if your location is not too hot for them.

I agree with the recommendation for yardlong beans; kids are fascinated by them. The variety "Chinese Red Noodle" would be especially interesting, since it has attractive, deep burgundy-purple pods. It really thrives on heat, too... which would be a plus, given your location. Another variety, "Taiwan Black", has very long pods, some of which can actually be close to 3 feet long when mature. Both are pole varieties, you can get them from Baker Creek.

Another bean that would be interesting would be winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus); and since it is a tropical bean, it is especially well-suited to Florida climate. The flowers are very attractive, the 4-sided beans are unusual, and all parts of the plant are edible. You can get seed from the non-profit ECHO, which is also located in Florida.

Don't know how well common beans would do there; but a mixture of green, purple, and yellow-podded varieties would be really eye-catching. Some companies even offer a mix, I think Parks had one.

Good point about the limas, Happy. Don't know the age of the children, or the degree of adult supervision... but if potential toxicity is not an issue, there are two other candidates I would recommend. Both have the added advantage of being tropical:

- Sword Bean (Canavalia gladiata) has rampant vines, and some of the largest pods (up to 3" wide & over a foot long) of any bean. Kitazawa Seeds carries them. Kids like big, and these are probably the largest bean seeds you can grow.

- Hyacinth bean (Dolichos lablab) has very large vines, beautiful fragrant flowers, and unusual clusters of flat pods. Kitazawa & Baker Creek both carry several varieties.

Most of my recommendations have one thing in common - they are pole varieties. I agree with George, kids are really drawn to climbing beans. Some of these (such as sword bean, hyacinth bean, & the more rampant pole limas) will climb very high. You might consider raising a 10-foot pole with strings attached, then tying off the hanging strings to stakes at the bottom to form a tee-pee. This could be an impressive sight when filled with vines.

Having said all this... have you contacted the Florida Master Gardeners? They would probably be happy to help, and could recommend the best varieties (and planting times) for your area. They might also be able to direct you to local sources, and perhaps even provide you with free seed.

Hi tumblingtomatoes,

You mentioned a "school project" in your original post.

In addition to the very generous folks on this forum, there are seed suppliers out there who will donate seeds to support school and/or community benefit gardening projects.

Good luck and have lots of fun!

Rick

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Bob - Seeds for Schools program

Thanks everyone for all the great suggestions & the warning about the lima pods! I had no idea but good to know! There is good supervision but I think planting them seperate from the other bean types is the best idea. Yes, we're going to try some of the ideas out here at home, then see which worked best/easiest & then plant some of the same in the school's outdoor environmental classroom - part of which is a small garden for the lower grade levels that our kids are in. We did a few tomatoes & lettuce last year & it was a big hit in the classroom as well as at home. Thanks for suggesting the Tomato Bob program, appreciate it lots!

News to me about toxicity of butterbeans (limas)! I regularly sample a few raw as I'm picking and butterbeans have been a staple for me from the beginning. Everyone knows that the pods are inedible at any stage but the beans themselves, live and learn. I have only grown them as shell beans as letting them dry on the vine stops production.
The varieties I've grown or seen grown in my 40 years are seiva (mama's favortite), fordhook and willowleaf (green pole) florida and christmas (speckled pole) baby thouroughgreen (my favorite) and cangreen (poor substitute for thouroughgreen) (both green bush) and my favorite speckled jackson wonder (bush). Next year I will be going back to christmas along with the thouroughgreen.
As for pole beans (snaps) I can not give any higher recommendation than louisiana purple pod, the best tasting pole bean I have ever grown and the only pole I have grown for over thirty years. Well, that is wrong two years ago after a move I could only get one called alabama blue. Never ever again is all I will say to that one.
A kid's garden sounds good. Try showing them the old way of growing pole beans on corn. Maybe an older OP corn like country gentleman for a sweet or my favorite OP truckers favorite which can be picked as roasters or for creamed corn or left to dry for meal, grits and hominy. Hickory king would do as well.
The way it was done when I was younger was to plant the corn somewhere around the first of may and when it reached knee high it got a dose of ammonium nitrate and the soil was pulled to the stalks to help support it. At the same time the row was weeded and a furrow laid off next to the corn and the beans were planted (always rattlesnakes in my neck of the woods).

"You could also grow sweet peas, they are like candy fresh off the vine. "
Please reconsider this type of statement! Sweet pea is the common name for Lathyrus odoratus which is quite toxic. Since the pods tho smaller resemble Pisum sativa, folks are tempted to eat them. Especially dangerous for children who eat raw vegetables. Please refer to Pisum sativum as English peas or garden peas.

ZEEDMAN kind of said it all!!! I grow these and I also recommend them,as he did!