Never having heard of them before, I googled. A couple of source's sell Violet's Mulitcolored butterbeans (southern exposure seed exchange and sugar foot farms). It looks like they're semi-bush.

There are TONS of different colors of lima beans. I've only heard of pale or black butter beans, but limas come in a million colors. If you have supports built for climbing limas they won't take over the universe, they will stay neatly on the supports. I use electrical conduit poles or bamboo poles at least 6' tall and strung with string as my trellis. I grow the limas "flat", not on a teepee shape or anything, and i use them as divisions in the garden where they won't cast shade over anything else. I also grow them on arches. Very abundant and if you go every few days and just loop the stray strands of vines back around the trellis they will eventually cling and climb away.

do some of these heirloom limas have various colors after the cooking -

thanks, mr toad

You know...they seem vaguely familiar, from the visits to my grandmother's house, in South Carolina. I found this link...with a recipe that looks really good. Just scroll to the bottom. Is this what you're looking for, as far as color?

Here is a link that might be useful: Butter beans

I am growing Christmas limas this year for the first time. The seed (beans) are red with big white blotchy markings on them. I have six to seven foot high metal teepees for them. I expect that they will grow up and then flop over just like big pole snap beans do.

I am also planning to grow speckled Dixie Butterpeas. Those seeds are a beautiful pink/red/burgundy marbling. According to Farmerdilla on the Vegetable forum, they are the "best tasting" of all southern peas. I can't wait to try them. To my taste, fresh butterbeans and peas are like an entirely different vegetable from the frozen ones.