Green Bean ID Please

I want to find or order a green bean that I love. I was purchasing it to eat at a local fruit market. I don't know the name of it though. It is a wide flat green bean and has fairly large whole bean inside of it when you snap them. The flavor is so good and it is not tough skinned at all. I would dearly love to be able to grown my own.

Can you help me with a name and source for this bean?

Thank you in advance.

Just guessing..... wide, flat green bean.... hummmmm???? Maybe ROMA.

LarryD

or the pole version Romano. There are dozens of varieties of these. keyword is flat Italian bean. From the Kansas State extension

Other bush cultivars are Roma II, Romano 14, Gaia, Marconi Nana, Corallo, Baroma, Garrafal Enana etc.

Thanks so much. Have you grown any of these and if so, which were your best tasting? Where do you order these bean seeds?

Brenda

Our favourite green beans are the pole bean version of the flat Romano and the round Kentucky Wonder.

I agree that the pole Romano seems to have the best flavor, but the bush versions give good yields with less work. They are widely available as is the bush Roma II. If you want some the more exotic versions, Check out Gourmet Seeds International, which features quite a few Italian cultivars. http://www.gourmetseed.com/

Kwentus and Helda flat pole beans are the best tasting of all I have grown.They may be the same beans I also like Golden Buddha,and the purple streaked Hickman and Jumbo Polish.All are pole types,very productive and vigorous growers.
Charlie

I bought seeds of ROMA II at WalMart last week.

LD

FarmerDill, you'll have to let me know your technique with bush beans. I've never gotten a good a yield on a bush bean as I have with a pole bean.

Oh, boy! Someone just gave me some fresh picked seeds from the Helda - now I'm really excited to be growing it this season. Hey - Is it Spring yet??? (Well, I guess not with the temps down to single digits tonight! Won't be long though!)

We have had a horribly cold winter. I has gotten down into the 40's several times in the last few weeks. We even got to freezing a few times. Our house is 14 years old. We just cranked up the fireplace for the first time a few nights ago. I don't know how ya'll can deal with it up north. I haven't been able to wear shorts outside a few times in the last two weeks.

This message was edited Jan 24, 2007 9:39 PM

Mermaid, no special technique; I just plant them in in the ground and come back and pick them. A lot has to do with climate. Bush beans are quick off the mark, set a crop that you can pick twice and they are through. You also use a higher plant density with bush beans. In a cool climate, most pole beans will bear over an extended period, but here they burn out by early July. So the Bush types actually are more dependable in yield. I can plant in early April, and again by May 1 for a spring crop, Late August for a fall crop. About the only plants that will stand July and August here are southern peas, lima beans, sweet potatoes and Okra.

Perhaps bush beans need more heat and moisture, or warmer nights. I get bumper crops with pole beans but the poor performance on bush beans makes them a waste of space for our tiny plot, even with the denser planting. I might try a few and cover them with fleece in the evening to see if the added warmth makes a difference.