Thought you'd like to see some pictures. These plants are in three gallon nursery containers nested in cheater five gallon nursery containers. It gets fairly hot here in Florida and even the beans suffer from heat and will wilt and require more water when in containers if not kept cooler, thus the cooling bunkers.... I wasn't sure you could see that the beans are in three gallon containers so I threw in a picture of the sugar snaps that clearly show the smaller containers. Tom

HI Tom: Bush beans are normally planted about 1-2" apart in rows. According to the data I have, ten feet planted this way should yield about 3-5 pounds of beans. So you're going to need alot of little pots lined up to make a reasonable yield. You might consider planting your bush beans in something like a window box since it's long. I'm doing this now with Sugar Snap peas. The sugar snaps will have a higher yield because you eat the pods. You may want to consider adding snap peas as well. There's an image of Snap Peas growing in containers in the photo album section of my blog. The link is below. Here is a link that might be useful: Vegetables in containers

I guess that depends on what type they are. If they are stocky enough to stand up on their own and be OK I'd just write something simple like 'Take me home, place in a pot with soil in a sunny place, water and watch me grow!' on the back of the tag make sure you say that it is an edible green bean - 60 days to harvest. Leave it at that. Putting too much info will make people nervous. If they think it's hard to take care of it might just get thrown away. KWIM? I can't tell you how many times I brought home sunflowers or corn starts only to have my Mother throw them out or not take care of them. LOL. Barbie

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.