Larry, my favorite is rattlesnake pole beans. They are not real stringy and have a very good taste. James

James, thanks, I am going to Ft. Smith today and will pick up some seed. I was reading about Romano, thinking I may try to find some seed to plant so I can try those also. I will have plenty of time to find different seed before planting time.

Thanks, again, Larry

I edited my link because I have the old list on there. It has changed a little. Fortex cross is the one Darrel Jones spoke of on the other forum. Surely they will update their on line list soon.

Sandhill Preservation Center is a reasonable place to order seed. The shipping is low. They have a pole bean mix or cross that was mentioned on another forum. The idea was that the beans were not all the same and some might be adaptable to the home gardeners' conditions and could be selected. Sandhill has lots of kinds of beans.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sandhill

This post was edited by helenh on Tue, Jan 28, 14 at 17:58

Larry, there are a lot of good beans out there. Helen mentioned something which is quite intriguing. Also, I don't know variety names, as it's been many years since I grew them, but I am positive that there are some very good Romano pole types out there.

George
Tahlequah, OK

I went to the Farmers Coop and found Rattlesnake, but nothing else that I wanted to try. For some reason I have not had great luck with Blue Lake and Kentucky Wonder, but I still have a lot of time to look before planting time. It has seemed that the selection at the Farmer Coop has become less in the past few years. I was quite happy with Sandhill's selections.

Larry

My link above was for 2013. They put out their print catalog before updating on-line. You have to mail your order in; they are a little behind times like I am. I have had the print catalog a couple weeks so surely they will update on line soon. If you want to order beans I could check my 2014 catalog for you to make sure they have what you want.

sandhill@fbcom.net

but they don't take orders on line. You could ask them a question though.

This post was edited by helenh on Tue, Jan 28, 14 at 18:12

Last year I had great success with the purple pole bean. I love them raw and cooked. they were best when picked less than 4" , but still good after that. I will grow them every year. The blue lake and Kentucky grown in same row were marginal for me.
kim

Larry, Rattlesnake is one of my favorite pole beans because it produces so well despite the heat. I also have been happy with various of the cutshort type pole beans offered by Southern Exposure Seed Exchange.

Romano type pole beans that have produced well for me include Garrafal Oro, Smeraldo, Jeminez and Meraviglia Venezia. Most years, Sandhill has Jeminez and I think I've seen Garrafal Oro there before. I usually buy Meraviglia Venezia, Garrafal Oro and Smeraldo from Seeds From Italy, which carries seed from the Italian seed house Franchi-Sementi. I'll link their website below.

Most pole beans produce well for me if I can get them in the ground early enough to beat the heat. If it heats up too early, they often are not very productive until fall. I grow bush beans in the spring because they tend to produce earlier and I get a good harvest before it gets too hot, but that's not going to be an option for you.

All the purple pole beans that I've ever grown have done well for me. I especially like the one that Baker Creek sells that is simply called Purple Podded Pole Bean. It is an heirloom from the Ozarks.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Seed From Italy