Just wanted to share my good experience with growing Blauhilde pole bean this summer.

It's now one of my favorite pole beans for snaps, and now (late in the season) for pods with shellies. It has good assertive beany flavor, is productive, is easy to grow, is relatively early, and did not get diseased or attacked by insects (slugs seemed to prefer Neckargold seedlings over Blauhilde seedlings).

However, regarding insects, for some unknown reason, there were very, very few insects around this year; very few pollinators, and very few pests. It is very disconcerting not to see the usual number of beneficials around, including bumblebees, hover flies, wasps.

Blauhilde's dark-purple pods are long, round, and easy to spot in the foliage. A few plants produced flat-podded beans. Stems are dark purple, leaves has purple veins.

The pods are delicious raw or cooked (they turn green during cooking).

(Source: Gourmet Seeds.)

After growing it and being very satisfied, I think Blauhilde merits a wider audience.