Thanks Shirley, as long as they have lots of flowers, I'll be happy. Mostly
want it for hummingbirds..
Dustdevil, I'll check out that Dixie half runner. Thanks

The Mountain and Dixie Half Runner beans are not true Runner beans.
The scientific name for the common bean is [I]Phaseolus vulgaris[/I] and the runner bean is [I]Phaseolus coccineus[/I]. They are different species.

Check out this information on Runner Beans:

[URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runner_bean[/URL]

Any time a snap or pole bean develops tendrils and tries to grow up, those parts are called 'runners'. This leads to some confusion, of course.

Shirley

I never did end up tryin them for snap beans as I was growing for dry beans, but I was astounded by the productivity of a pole bean called Case Knife. SSE yearbook has them listed as a snap bean. They look and taste about like Navy beans. I plan to grow Case Knifes as a snap bean this year.

Based on several suggestions in this thread I decided to grow Emerite this year. Unfortunately I don't have good feedback. I realize that some varieties of vegatables perform and taste differently in different areas/regions. Here in the mid-atlantic region just south of the Mason-Dixon line in my garden Emerite is average at best. It is NOT in the same league as Rattlesnake or Fortex. To make matters worse my wife was dissapointed and I probably won't get to try a new variety next year. :(


Randy

Rattlesnake is delicious. I also liked the Roma II. You need to convince
your wife to let you try at least one new variety every year. I'm sure there
are more delicious varieties out there.

Linda

I finally found a supplier for Fortex this year, and I am a convert. The seed packet seemed to be small, so I spaced them further apart when planting and filled in the end space with some old Kentucky pole beans from last year. I always overplant because I've had problems with poor germination some years. Every Fortex bean germinated earlier, grew and flowered faster and had edible beans two weeks earlier than the Kentucky pole. The Fortex pods were round, very long and slender, did not "bean out" quickly, and were tender and stringless. I hope they hold their quality well when frozen, guess I will find that out this winter. If so, this will be my only pole bean in the future, I am impressed!

Neckargold is a lovely yellow pole bean - I believe I got them from
Sandhill.

Last year I would have raved about the Blue Lake beans - this year, no sign of a bean still. Grr.

I have the Scarlet runners too - last year I got beans, this year just flowers so far. It has been much hotter this year. But yep, keeping the hummingbirds happy.