The red podded yardlongs have a firm texture, and somewhat of a nutty flavor. They mature later than some of the green-podded types (especially those with black seeds), and seem to prefer more heat than many of the green-podded varieties. The yield is good, but slightly less than the black-seeded varieties below. I enjoy them in part because they keep their burgundy color when cooked. There is wide variation in green-podded varieties. The black-seeded ones I've tried are generally earlier, more tolerant of cool weather, bear heavily, and have tender (even delicate) pods. One of the black-seeded varieties (with dark green pods & purple tips) has the strongest flavor of those that I've tasted; it goes by several names, including Asparagus Bean and Liana. Green-podded / red-seeded varieties seem to benefit from longer seasons, be firmer & often sweeter as a rule, have very long pods, and yields ranging from medium to somewhat heavy. Pods can be anywhere from very light green to deep green. There are many more discussions of yardlong beans on both the Bean Forum, and the Asian Vegetable Forum.

My own preferences are much the same as Hemnancy's; I prefer pole beans for their size, flavor, and yield... and for the enormous variation available in heirloom varieties. They require more space, but that is not an issue for me. Bush beans, however, have their advantages too... so sometimes (preferences aside) it's a question of which type is most suitable for the location & the intended purpose. It's also worth noting that beans should be considered for more than just snaps. Bush beans Advantages: - Easy to plant, require no support. - They mature more quickly. This makes them better suited for short-season areas, for late planting, and when they will be grown early or late as part of a succession planting. - Generally bear all-at-once, so good if grown for canning in large batches, especially with limited space. - Low profile, so better suited for high-wind areas. - Most popular dry beans are bush varieties. - More wax bean varieties available commercially as bush than as pole. Disadvantages: - Less suitable for kitchen gardens, where a prolonged harvest is preferable. Succession planting every few weeks can overcome this, if space is available to do so. - More vulnerable to damage by slugs and rodents. - Lower yield.* - Generally smaller pod size. - Fewer cultivars available for use as shellies. - Harvest can be uncomfortable, due to constant bending. Pole beans Advantages: - Higher yield*, sometimes enormous. - Generally larger pods as snaps, so less cutting involved for canning. - More varieties available for shellies, including most of the larger-seeded. - Prolonged harvest, good for fresh eating over a long period. Some varieties, though, will have large flushes in a relatively short period of time. - Pods are higher, making them easy to see & pick, with minimal bending. - Less damage from rodents, snails, & crawling insects. Disadvantages: - Require erecting a pole/trellis. Not too tough for a 20-foot row, but 500 feet of trellis can be a chore. - Take longer to bear, making them less suitable for short season areas. (There are, however, fast-maturing varieties like "Goldmarie" and "Early Riser"). - Except for very long-season areas, they occupy the ground for the entire season, so not suitable for succession planting. - Not good for high-wind areas, where poles & vines may be snapped. - While the over-all yield is very high, the yield-per-plant for a given period may be relatively low, so smaller daily pickings. This is only an issue where space is limited. - Few varieties commercially available for dry beans (but many heirlooms). I have also observed that many bean diseases are either caused or aggravated by soil being splashed on the leaves; bush beans seem to be more vulnerable to this. I used the (*) for yield, because with different planting strategies, either bush or pole can be high-yielding: - Pole varieties have a higher yield per plant, and often the highest yield per row foot... but much of this advantage is lost with multiple rows, because of the greater row spacing required due to shading. They are at their best if planted in a single row, at the North side of the garden. My largest yield per row by far was from a row of "Pole 191" snap beans. - Bush varieties, while yielding less per plant, can be spaced more closely... and since shade is not an issue, the rows can be closer together as well. Succession planting can also help overcome the yield gap, since it allows bush beans to time-share a given space with another crop. I think that the best bean strategy is a single row of pole beans on the North side - with a row or two of bush beans directly adjacent on the South side - so as to form one wide row. This gives the best of both worlds, in a relatively small space. Those pole beans, by the way, can include limas or yardlong beans. As for strings, I think there is little difference; there are both pole beans & bush beans, with- and without strings. However, since most breeding going on now is for bush beans, there will eventually be more stringless varieties available as bush. I don't necessarily see "stringlessness" as an advantage, since many varieties that develop strings are stringless when picked young, and have outstanding flavor. "Kentucky Wonder" is a great example of this. Most of the new bush varieties, while stringless, are of the petite style now popular in Europe... takes a lot of picking to get a basket full. No thank you. Give me the 11" pods of "Fortex", or the long pods of "Goldmarie" or "Garafal Oro", any day.

I just tried yard long (brown seeds) and Fortex for the first time this year. In years past I have grown Lazy Wife. And earlier than that I grew Kentucky Wonder and Blue Lake because my parents always grew KW and I noticed the canned green beans that I bought were always Blue Lake, so I figured they'd be good to can. I was new enough to gardening that I didn't know there were SOOOO many kinds of beans to choose from. A home grown bean is always so much better than the canned ones you buy, whatever kind it is. I don't remember much about the Kentucky Wonder and Blue Lake. Seems like the Kentucky Wonder got woody pretty fast. Lazy Wife was a good bean, the pods grow two or three together and so they are easy to spot and pick (hence the name). The flavor is good. They are climbers, will climb 8 feet or more. Beans are stringless and meant to be enjoyed when young. Once the seeds begin to bulge, they are stringy and tough, though. And when the weather gets hot, just pull them up because the beans after the hot spell is over are short and fat and get woody before they're any size worth picking. The Fortex that I grew this year have been a disappointment. The pods are really small and picking is time-consuming. I haven't noticed the flavor being better than Lazy Wife was. The Yard Long bean has been fun and prolific. Even through the heat of summer, they produce. I have them growing on an arch made of a long stock panel and the long beans hang down and are easy to see and pick. The beans are flavorful, tender and stringless. I can't tell you how tall the vine grows because it has gone to the top of the arch and mingled with the vines coming from the other side so I don't know where they end. I tried to grow Dragon Tongue, which is a bush-type yellow string, but I only had 4 seeds and only one germinated. I hadn't planned to eat any of them as I was growing the plant for the seed, but I mis-judged when to pick and ended up eating them because they hadn't made a seed big enough to plant. They were tender and good, but I didn't get anything I could plant next year and the bean beetles or something got the rest. I garden pesticide-free so I end up letting the insects take what they intend to take most of the time. I have noticed something's drilling holes in the Fortex, but they don't bother the Yard Long. However, I seem lately to have an infestation of black aphids on the Yard Longs that tend to all gather on the same bean and its stem, covering it like sequins on a ball gown. I've been waiting for the ladybugs to notice them and that hasn't happened, so today I just went out there with a wet paper towel, folded it over the bean and went the length of it, smushing every bug along the way. I also planted some Tiger Eye, I didn't know if they'd be pole or bush, and I GUESS they're bush but they tended to want to climb a little bit. This apparently is a dry bean as the pods filled out really fast and were really easy to open to get at the bean. So my favorite this year is the Yard Long. That Red Noodle sounds fun. I'm trying George's Tennessee Cutshort next year. I've never had a bean that was still tender once it got fat so it will be a new experience for us. George may have a convert! I might see if I can get some Insuk's Wang Kong beans to try next year, too. So Jim if you have some to share send me an e-mail. --Ilene

Ditto on Grandma Roberts; the grandson loved them straight from the vine, and I liked the round pods. It was a prolific producer. I grew Blue Marbutt last year, which also has round pods; but they were more greenish at snap stage, becoming fully purple as they dried down. I also grew Trionfo Violetto last year, which has long, flat, tender pods with good flavor... but the yield was disappointing, as it was in a previous year. Kew Blue (which I grew several years ago) is very similar, but had a slightly better yield. The most productive purple-podded snap bean I've grown so far was Czechoslovakian, obtained through SSE. It has flat Romano-type pods 5-6" long, and bore heavily until I let the pods go for seed.